War Lies Investigation: Rockefeller Says He'll Get to It Someday

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.

If Democrats allow the Republicans to get away with their pile of felonies unscathed, they aren't worth spit.

How quickly we forget :(

K&R, thank you for staying on top of this issue.

http://thinkprogress.org/2005/11/01/video-closed-session/
VIDEO: Reid Closes Down the Senate

"Transcript below:

SEN. HARRY REID: America deserves better than this. They also deserve a searching and comprehensive investigation into how the Bush administration brought this country to war. Key questions that need to be answered include:

– How did the Bush administration assemble its case for war against Iraq? We heard what Colonel Wilkerson said.
– Who did the Bush administration officials listen to and who did they ignore?
– How did the senior administration officials manipulate or manufacture intelligence presented to the Congress and the American people?
– What was the role of the White House Iraq Group, or WHIG, a group of senior White House officials tasked with marketing the war and taking down its critics? We know what Colonel Wilkerson says.
– How did the administration coordinate its efforts to attack individuals who dared to challenge the administration’s assertions? We know what happened to them — I listed a few.
– Why has this administration failed to provide Congress with the documents that would shed light on their misconduct and the misstatements?

Unfortunately, the Senate committee that should be taking the lead in providing these answers is not. Despite the fact that the chairman of Senate Intelligence Committee publicly committed to examine these questions more than a year and a half ago, he has chosen not to keep that commitment. Despite the fact that he restated the commitment earlier this year on national television, he has still done nothing. …

Mr. President, enough time has gone by. I demand on behalf of the American people that we understand why these investigations aren’t being conducted, and in accordance with Rule 21, I now move that Senate go into closed session.

SEN. DICK DURBIN: Mr. President, I second the motion.

PRESIDING OFFICER: The motion has been made to go into closed session, and it has been seconded. The motion having been made and seconded, the Senate will go into closed session. The chair, pursuant to Rule 21, now directs the sergeant at arms to clear all galleries, close all doors of the Senate chamber, and exclude from the chamber and its immediate corridors all employees and officials of this Senate who under the rule are not eligible to attend this closed session and are not sworn to secrecy. The question is nondebatable.

UPDATE: Crooks and Liars has video of Reid’s press conference."

wrong place

he votes concerning the FISA/telecom immunity deal--should be enlightening.

if we had a progressive Democrat to vote for in the upcoming primary.

As it stands, Jay will face off against a Repiglican loon who makes him look like a bright, shiny liberal.

Meanwhile, he will, among other things, continue his advocacy for "Liquid Coal Technology" to fuel the Air Force's planes, and continue to hold West Virginia in thrall to the Mountain Range Removal industry.

It's really quite pathetic.

Sorry. Jay, like Senator Byrd, has a lifetime satrapy.



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be an explanation for whatever doesn't make sense to those who have been paying attention. Good, decent men in Congress who were previously outraged before they gained a Democratic majority by voters who were just as outraged now seem to be tentative in rocking the boat. Why?????

The strange conduct of those who were eager to take this administration down simply makes me think of the cover-up of the Kennedy assassination. In my view, the explanation lies with powerful entities or powerful people who have hijacked the government long ago & are still running the show. The idiot in charge now would never, ever have been "elected" if not for the fact that his father -- whom Reagan didn't even like but "chose" him as his VP -- hadn't been president & had also briefly been -- sooprise, sooprise -- head of the CIA.

I think the answer to why we're being held hostage in the Twilight Zone lies in the (very dangerous) Bush connections.

That will go into the same obscure file as the one on the Kennedy assassination.

The one area they can't completely control is public opinion, but they sure have been busy doing something about it: controlling the media & the votes.

Sometimes I wake up just wishing what I know to be true was just some deranged fantasy.

about their dirty dealings. Connect what we've learned & the answer seems clear to me. It's indeed depressing. They can control our media & elections, but not our inquisitiveness & common sense (at least 65% of us, anyway).

are enough to show that the congress unconstitutionally granted warmaking power to an incompetent. Besides that there were no 'clear' (truthful) 'situations' and 'circumstances' to base a War Powers Resolution requirement on, the AUMF should be rescinded and/or revised since the 'war' is over yet our forces are stuck in an 'occupation'.

One of the first American dynasties, that have been running this country for over a century, will never, ever, under any circumstances, move to risk that position.

It is a very confusing name.

No 'A's allowed. :rofl:

>> "I work for the little fellas, not the Rockefellas." <<

And I still can't spell it.