Senator Reid, Push Pat Roberts On The Phase Two Inquiry

by Steve

Image courtesy of CBS News

Those of you who watched Tyler Drumheller on “60 Minutes” last night saw proof that the Bush Administration’s claim they were misled by bad intelligence is nothing but lies, because:

1. This war was never about WMDs or Saddam’s alleged ties to Al Qaeda or 9/11; those were only the sales speeches used on a gullible media and American public to cheerlead for the invasion;

2. Saddam could have dumped truckloads of WMDs on the White House lawn in March 2003, and said “OK, you got me”, and it would not have mattered one bit;

3. Bush and the cabal were set on removing Saddam from Day One using any means and lies possible;

4. The war is really about the PNAC agenda, permanent bases on top of Iraqi oil, and taking advantage of what 9/11 all-too-conveniently delivered to the Bush White House.

Drumheller makes it clear that the Agency told the White House that much of the intelligence Bush and the cabal were touting was suspect at best, and cherry-picked garbage at worst. I suspect that George Tenet will say the same when he releases his tell-all book just before the midterms this October.

But aside from confirming what we on the center-left suspected all along, Drumheller’s assertions now also call into doubt both the Silvermann-Robb presidential commission findings, as well as the Pat Roberts’ whitewashed Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report, both of which covered for the White House and tried to pin the blame for Bush’s already-made decision on bad intelligence, as if it would have made any difference. As Josh Marshall, Atrios, and our own Eriposte have already noted, Drumheller’s revelations aren’t new; the Silvermann-Robb commission interviewed Drumheller three times; and SSCI interviewed him twice, but only after their whitewashed report was issued. Why? Because the job of each was not to find out the truth but to redirect attention away from the White House at least until after November 2004.

Sure, the swift boating of Drumheller is afoot. But will Harry Reid now demand that Roberts immediately start up the Phase Two inquiry, and failing that, shut down the Senate again? Isn’t it time for Democrats to talk about a true independent inquiry between now and the midterms?