Pat Roberts in cahoots with Cheney on Senate Iraq Intel Report (Rozen)

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http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/002885.html

So who did the Vice President's office reach to for assistance in its campaign to blame all of Iraq on the CIA? Apparently, Pat Roberts, the chair of the Senate Select Intelligence committee, the committee that had promised to investigate how the US government got Iraq intelligence so wrong. Off and on the past couple months, I have been talking to staff on the committee, Republicans and Democrats, trying to figure out what's really happened with the promised Phase II SSCI report, that was supposed to examine US government officials' use of the intelligence. (The Phase I report, you'll remember, catalogued the intelligence community's role in the Iraq intel mistakes). Was Phase II totally dead and buried? Did it ever find anything before it was buried? Or was it still limping along, with an inkling of hope of ever seeing the light of day? Here's my piece on the missing report:

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=V...

Earlier this week, as the piece was already at the printer, I was calling someone up for a quick question, and we got to talking about the latest Fitzgerald news from over the weekend. And I was told something that really stands out: that Roberts has literally been coordinating with Senate majority leader Frist and Cheney's office very closely on many aspects of the Senate Intelligence committee's supposed investigation of the intelligence, and in particular, working closely with Cheney's office on crafting the language defining and limiting the terms for the as-yet unfinished Phase II report. It hardly is surprising that Cheney took a big interest in what the Senate Select Intelligence committee might turn up in its investigation. But think about it. Here's the Congressional committee constitutionally mandated to provide oversight of all intelligence activities happening by the US government. And yet, here we have the Intelligence committee head coordinating to some degree with the Vice President's office, who we now know to be deeply involved in some of the most dubious of pre-war intelligence pronouncements, tasking, and cherry picking, and at the forefront of a post-war campaign to slime Wilson and his CIA officer wife. When Congress is in cahoots with the administration in stifling oversight, who can investigate the investigators? Unfortunately, it's not in Fitzgerald's mandate.

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1. This was EXACTLY MY POINT for MONTHS.

And thanks to the compatriots at DU we pushed this very story onto all our media contacts earlier this year.

We also called for Fitzgerald to put Roberts under oath.

Take a bow, DU.

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2. Congratulations.

Nicely done.

[hang a left]

3. Please, please tell me Roberts is a target or a subject.

This is too good to be true.

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6. Sorry. I think he would have been interviewed.

Here's the list of who Fitz and the GJ have heard from:

http://hotlineblog.nationaljournal.com/archives/2005/10...

The Senate Intel Cmte report is probably beyond Fitz' mandate (though a mandate never stopped Ken Starr, did it?).

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8. Roberts will still be able to be put under oath at any trial.

Even Wilson's civil suit trial.

They must know. We bombarded them with info for weeks some months ago.

[swag]

9. Might be time for another bombardment.

You know how big that memory hole is. Vide the H2O thing on Hannah.

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10. Heh...you don't have to tell me twice.

Bombs away.

[Halliburton]

4. must've got the fax from Scooter's office

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17. Roberts definitely complied. But, I'm sure his planted charges were for

corroboration of the spin against Wilson from Rove and Mehlman at the RNC.

[Burried News]

5. Pat Roberts - Orin Hatch - character assassins for Cheney.

From your second link. Larry Franklin - AIPAC and Plame convergence.

"But committee staff sources say that before the cooperation ceased, the committee had received from Feith’s office internal memos suggesting that the office may indeed have been conducting unlawful activities. In particular, Democratic staffers are interested in a secret December 2001 meeting of two Feith deputies, Larry Franklin and Harold Rhode, with Ghorbanifar in Rome. The meeting also included members of a foreign intelligence service (Italy’s SISMI). The catch is that it wasn’t reported in advance to the intelligence committee or the CIA, in possible violation of Section 502 of the National Security Act, which says that anyone conducting intelligence activities must inform the committee and the agency.

Among the documents in the committee’s possession, the Prospect has learned, is a cable the CIA station chief in Rome sent to Langley expressing concern that members of Feith’s office were involved in an unauthorized covert action. The committee also has Franklin’s Rome report, which, according to sources, revealed that the meeting included the discussion of possibilities for engaging a network of Ghorbanifar associates to pursue action against Tehran. (Franklin pled guilty in October to charges stemming from a separate FBI investigation. Feith left the Pentagon for the private sector over the summer.) "

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13. BushInc made sure to fill the Intel Committee with their goons.

.

[WiseButAngrySara]

7. Interesting post. K and R! ........n/t

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16. I keep kickin for more eyeballs, too. This is being overlooked, yet

every pundit and GOP pol is using Roberts report as their lifeline for their case against Wilson.

Roberts' lies about Wilson need a stronger spotlight.

[Jane Austin]

11. Remember the debate on the Senate floor during the Bolton confitmation?

It was remarkable that Sen. Voynavich almost cried during his arguments, but what really struck me was that shortly after Jay Rockefeller spoke, Pat Roberts came running down to the floor from his office for remarks that had not been scheduled.

His remarks excoriated Rockefeller, with whom he often made joint, cordial appearances on the Sunday shows as chair and co-chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Roberts was not dressed for the Senate floor. He was wearing a tan or beige casual suit, and just didn't look "put together". All the other senators were dressed more seriously.

At the time, I turned to Mr. JaneAustin and commented said that somebody must have just called Roberts and told him he'd better get his ass down to the floor and refute Rockefeller.

I thought then, and think now, that it was Cheney.

The OP makes sense to me.

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12. Absolutely right on. The WH used Roberts as their Senate cover up pointman

It was onvious in that bogus Senate report they drew up before the election.

I said at the time that Roberts PLANTED false conclusions that Wilson lied FOR THE WH so the RW media machine could run with it.

[lovuian]

14. They wanted it to be a Holy War against the infidels!!!

They needed the Bible thumping pat to give it the religious blessing!!!

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15. I'm convinced that Roberts is just pure evil, and just uses the Bible to

pretend he's no different than his voters. BushInc would only trust a proven fascist who is in consort with their imperialistic intentions to run the Senate intel Committee for them.