By David Swanson
A constituent of Senator Jay Rockefeller, chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, sent his office an article I wrote lamenting his failure to conduct over the past 10 months the investigation of White House war lies that he spent the previous three years criticizing the Republicans for not doing.
Rockefeller’s office replied thus: “The Committee is still working on a final report that examines public statements by government officials and whether they were supported by the underlying intelligence. As soon as it is completed, it will be promptly released to the public.”
Asked about the related never-done report on intelligence activities relating to Iraq conducted by the Policy Counterterrorism Evaluation Group (PCTEG) and the Office of Special Plans within the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Rockefeller’s office said it might not bother to do that report since the Pentagon has already conducted its own investigation of the Office of Special Plans.
As to when they would produce the report they claim they are working on, Rockefeller’s staff refused to say. Back in January, they told the same constituent they planned to have all three of the reports then remaining completed by late spring or early summer. Instead, they’ve completed one, dropped one, and claim to still be working on the key report that everyone has been waiting years for, the same report that Rockefeller and Reid forced the Senate into closed session two years ago in an attempt to force the Republicans to produce.
In September, Rockefeller’s office told the same constituent that the remaining two reports had in fact been completed but were being reviewed by the Department of Homeland Security. If that was true, it’s safe to assume that the White House is blocking release of the report and Rockefeller is cooperatively not saying so. If it’s not true, and if the key report, the one on whether Bush and Cheney were lying, has still not been done, my guess is Rockefeller will either never release it or release it shortly before the 2008 elections, and I lean strongly toward the former.
Like a rock.
Only softer.
Soft on Bush and Cheney.
Tough on Iraqi children.
Send the Senate a country road.
Take him home, to the place he belongs, West Virginia.
November 2008.