Senate Dems Call for DSM, Intelligence Answers

The text between the lines was copied entirely from John Conyers Blog:

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Senate Dems Call for DSM, Intelligence Answers

Senate Democrats invoked rarely used Rule 21 to force the chamber into a closed session to address the topic that Republicans wish would go away: the true story behind the administration's use of pre-war intelligence. In July 2004, the Senate Intelligence Committee completed phase I of its investigation into pre-war intelligence, concluding that there was no factual basis for claims that Iraq possessed biological or chemical weapons. In the second part of this investigation, phase II, the Committee was supposed to address the administration and its role in using pre-war intelligence. But the Committee never bothered to finish this part of the investigation. Senate Democrats today took Republican leadership to task on the Senate floor and demanded immediate action.

Senate Democratic Leader, Harry Reid:

"The Libby indictment provides a window into what this is really all about, how this administration manufactured and manipulated intelligence in order to sell the war in Iraq and attempted to destroy those who dared to challenge its actions."

Democratic Vice-chair of the Intelligence Committee, Senator Jay Rockefeller, addressing the part of the Intelligence Committee's inquiry into pre-war intelligence that was tasked with investigating the administration's use of intelligence, known as "phase 2":

"It is clear that only token work, at best, has been done on Phase 2 since it was authorized. That's unacceptable."

This is great news. I am thrilled to see Senate Democrats using such strong tactics to get to the bottom of DSM and pre-war intelligence. These questions need to be answered.

Blogged by JC on 11.01.05 @ 07:28 PM ET [link]

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 Etherealfire collected a few good links here, including the Raw Story, and some videos.  Kevin Drum notes that Fox was slow on the uptake:

CNN vs. FOX....

CNN is all over Harry Reid's move to force the Senate into closed session. Half a dozen correspondents are talking about it, and Jack Cafferty just unleashed a broadside about the need to find out once and for all whether we were lied into war.

But I keep flipping over to Fox and they've got nothing. What's up with that? Isn't this their kind of story?

Juan Cole noted that Michigan's own Debbie Stabenow was involved in planning the Rule 21 session:

Reid hatched the plan during a Halloween night Capitol Hill meeting with Schumer, Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.).

Just a side note: we don't hear enough from Stabenow.  I hope she's planning to get more involved in this kind of thing.  

Just in case anyone thought that the Downing Street Memo was not important, this is evidence that the outing of the DSM was the catalyst for what is now growing to a substantial political movement.  This really could change things.