Secret discussions on Iraq

2005-11-02 15:16

Washington - The United States Senate held a rare secret session on Tuesday to discuss a scandal that led to the resignation of a top White House aide last week and now-discredited intelligence used to justify the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

The two-hour secret session came at the demand of opposition Democrats, who said the closed-door debate was necessary to allow a full discussion on alleged manipulation of pre-war intelligence by President George W Bush's administration.

Democrats used a rare parliamentary manoeuvre to force lawmakers to discuss the issue on the Senate floor - a move that infuriated majority Republicans.

Senator Bill Frist, leader of the Republican majority in the Senate, dismissed the move as "a pure stunt" by Democrats intended to cause political chaos.

Americans deserve the truth

Frist said the move to invoke the rarely used "Rule 21" allowing for secret debate on the Senate floor was "unprecedented" in recent history, and accused Democrats of hijacking the US legislature.

Democrats however said the session was necessary because the Senate's Intelligence Committee had failed to properly vet the national security implications of a CIA leak scandal, which led last week to the resignation of vice-president Dick Cheney's chief of staff I Lewis "Scooter" Libby.

The criminal charges against Libby followed a two-year investigation by a special prosecutor to find out who in the Bush administration leaked to reporters the name of a covert CIA agent whose husband was a prominent critic of intelligence used to justify the Iraq war.

After Democrats threatened to use the parliamentary manoeuvre repeatedly this week to force debate on the intelligence question, Republicans relented and said they would create a bipartisan task force that will issue a report by November 14 on how best to complete the investigation.

Victorious Democrats crowed after the concessions by Republicans.

"After months and months of begging, cajoling, writing letters, we're finally going to be able to have phase two of the investigation regarding how the intelligence was used to lead us into the intractable war in Iraq," said a satisfied Democratic Leader Harry Reid after the session.

Reid said the illegal unmasking of secret agent Valerie Plame, as well as questionable efforts by the White House to make the case for going to war in Iraq, warranted thorough congressional scrutiny.

"Americans deserve a searching and comprehensive investigation about how the Bush administration brought this country to war," said Reid.

"The American people deserve to know not just whether this administration committed crimes, but whether this administration told the truth - the full truth, the straight story," said Senator Jay Rockefeller.

"If they misled about the war and if they misused intelligence, then the American people need to know that the Congress will do everything in its power to make sure that it never happens again," Rockefeller said.

- AFP