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Title: Democrats intensify criticism of war, seek White House probe
Source:
Boston Globe
URL Source: http://www.boston.com/news/nation/w ... seek_white_house_probe?mode=PF
Published: Oct 29, 2005
Author: Rick Klein
Post Date: 2005-10-29 04:19:20 by Uncle Bill
Keywords: Democrats, intensify, criticism
Views: 63
Comments: 7
Boston Globe WASHINGTON -- Democrats yesterday used the indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide to intensify their criticism of the Bush administration's push for war in Iraq, with calls for congressional probes and an expanded investigation that would look into White House attempts to manipulate intelligence. Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of Nevada, said the case raises questions about ''misconduct at the White House" in the run-up to war that must be answered by President Bush directly. ''This case is bigger than the leak of highly classified information," Reid said. "It is about how the Bush White House manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to bolster its case for the war in Iraq and to discredit anyone who dared to challenge the president." The charges cut to the heart of the administration's case for war because of the man they were filed against: I. Lewis ''Scooter" Libby, the vice president's chief of staff and national security adviser. Libby helped lead efforts inside Cheney's office to seek evidence suggesting that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. The five-count indictment against Libby stemmed from an apparent effort to discredit a critic of that intelligence, a fact that demands further scrutiny of the actions inside the Bush White House, said Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts and a leading critic of the Iraq war. ''This is far more than an indictment of an individual," Kennedy said. ''In effect it's an indictment of the vicious and devious tactics used by the administration to justify a war we never should have fought." Republicans kept their distance from the news. House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert and majority leader Roy Blunt issued news releases touting Commerce Department figures that suggest strong economic growth, but they were silent on the results of the leak investigation. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas Republican who on Sunday minimized the importance of any indictment that would come on ''some perjury technicality," issued a more measured response yesterday that was typical of the reactions from Republicans. ''Out of respect for our system of justice, everyone needs to take a deep breath and not judge those involved until it has been proven they are anything other than innocent," Hutchison said. Democrats quickly broadened the issue to the war as a whole. A group of 40 House Democrats called on special counsel Patrick J. Fitzgerald to expand his investigation into the motives behind the leak of CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson's identity. The top Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, renewed his request for an investigation of the Bush administration's handling of classified information. The leak of Wilson's name -- which prompted the investigation that ensnared Libby -- raises important questions about who has access to sensitive information and how such information is guarded internally, Waxman said. ''It goes to the question of how the administration is handling classified information," he said. ''And it goes into questions of how we got into the war in Iraq." Libby's indictment was handed up amid a torrent of problems for the Republican Party. Gas prices remain near record highs. The death toll of US forces in Iraq just passed the 2,000 mark. The president's choice for the Supreme Court was forced to step aside because of a conservative backlash. Bush continues to face criticism for his handling of the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Representative Tom DeLay of Texas, the former House majority leader, is under indictment in an alleged campaign finance scheme, and Senate majority leader Bill Frist of Tennessee is under investigation in a possible insider-trading case. Democrats hope to take advantage of those troubles in next year's congressional elections. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, called the indictment ''another chapter in the Republicans' culture of corruption," and senators including John F. Kerry of Massachusetts and Jack Reed of Rhode Island likened the Bush White House's punishing of critics to that of President Nixon. But some Democrats were cautious about scoring political points in a case with national security implications. ''I don't think it requires a political interpretation," said Representative Rahm Emanuel of Illinois, chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. ''It speaks for itself." The administration's use of prewar intelligence has long been a point of contention between the White House and Democrats in Congress. The Senate Intelligence Committee promised to conduct an investigation into that matter after last year's presidential election, but Senate leaders have rebuffed Democrats' requests to start the investigation. Libby's indictment was a reminder of the need to get to the bottom of alleged efforts by the administration to manipulate intelligence, said Representative John F. Tierney, a Salem Democrat who serves on the House intelligence committee. ''There was a strong proclivity on the part of the White House to try to fashion the intelligence to fit their already-drawn conclusions," Tierney said. ''It plays right into what happened here. It looks like there was an effort to make sure nobody delved too deeply into what the White House was doing."
Democrats intensify criticism of war,
seek White House probe
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff
October 29, 2005
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#2. To: Uncle Bill (#0)
CNN coverage is vicious
#3. To: All (#2)
They're alluding to "Scooter's" connection to PNAC on CNN Headline News.
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