Posted on 11/01/2005 4:59:00 PM PST by wagglebee
Accusing Republicans of ignoring questions about pre-war intelligence, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid forced the Republican-controlled Senate into an unusual closed session today, igniting anger from GOP leaders.
Before calling for the rare motion, which was seconded by his assistant minority leader, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., Reid said his colleagues across the aisle "have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why."
Speaking to reporters in the hall outside the Senate chamber, Majority Leader Bill Frist shot back, charging the Senate "has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership."
"They have no convictions, they have no principles, they have no ideas," he said.
Frist said the Democratic Party leadership did not warn him in advance of the move, which Republicans called a "political stunt."
"It means from now on, for the next year and half, I can't trust Senator Reid," the Tennessee lawmaker said.
Durbin told reporters the Democratic Senate staff notified Republican staff as the session began.
Frist explained that the closed session meant all electronic devices had to be removed and staff and media were barred from the room.
Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., a former majority leader, said Reid's move violated the Senate's tradition of courtesy and consent.
But the rules, he said, provided no way for Republicans to stop Reid.
In his speech before issuing the motion, Reid said that in the wake of the indictment Friday of Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the American people and U.S. troops deserved to know details of how the U.S. got into the Iraq war.
Reid said Libby was the highest level official to be indicted in some 130 years, then asked: "Is it any wonder, Mr. President, I am worried about my grandchildren?"
Reid previously spoke of concern about his family's future welfare as he ticked off a list of familiar Democratic complaints about the performance of the Bush administration on issues ranging from the war to the economy.
The minority leader said 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."
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told reporters the reason for the closed door session was to ask the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., why, "despite repeated promises," the panel has not complied with Democrats requests to conduct an investigation into problems with pre-war intelligence.
About two hours after the closing, the Senate returned to an open session in which Roberts defiantly insisted his panel is addressing the issue, on schedule, and called the Democrats' move a "political stunt," noting he had a stronger term for it, but "would leave it at that."
Prior to the open session, the senators agreed to appoint a six-member task force with three members from each party, to review the Intelligence Committee's progress on "Phase 2" of its work and report back to their respective caucuses by Nov. 14.
The first phase resulted in a 511-page report submitted last summer that addressed flaws of an Iraq intelligence estimate assembled by the country's top analysts in October 2002.
Roberts said the panel had started the second phase of the review but not completed it. He had intended all along, he said, to continue the work next week.
It took THIS for Frist to realize he can't trust Dingy Harry? We need GOP leaders with REAL stones!
Tomorrow it will be business as usual, buddy buddy time. I don't trust any of them. Spineless bastards
I am happier today than I was yesterday because of this lib meltdown.
Attention Gang of 7. You made your silly deal to preserve the Senate tradition of the courtesy of debate. Why is it only the Republicans who seem at all concerned with preserving traditions of courtesy and consent?
Attention President Bush. The New Tone hasn't worked. Time to take them to the mat once and for all.
Ha....you are a bit slow on the uptake Senator Lott
Reid said his colleagues across the aisle "have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why."
Tet68 said," Reid and his colleagues, have repeatedly chosen
to attack, ridicule, and obstruct the Republican administration in a time of war, rather than come together
as Americans and present a united front to our enemies. WHY?"
You should have ASKED US A LONG TIME AGO Senator Frist....and here's a piece of ADVICE NOW....You CANNOT trust any Dem for the rest of your life.
Worse, he is also saying that in 1-1/2 years, he will revert to trusting Reid again.
They came. They saw. They wimped.
NO KIDDING!!!
They shite in yer grits every day, and yer just now gettin suspecious? Get yer head outa yer ass Frist!
No wonder Libby was indicted. He's a Democrat.
He just ralized he can't trust these commie scum? (that is the nice version of what they are! lol)
He ought to worry that his grandchildren will jerk out his feeding tube at the very first opportunity.
Yeah but then the spineless repubs talked about "restoring" the bipartisan spirit. Gag. They would have surrendered to Hilter in return for the promise of future negotiations.
Well, that memo detailing how you and your associates intended to abuse the process would be a sufficient answer.
Somebody needs to tell Frist to grow a set of GONADS.
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