[Mb-civic] Senators clash over inquiry on Iraq - Boston Globe

[William Swiggard]

Senators clash over inquiry on Iraq
Democrats force a rare closed session

By Susan Milligan, Globe Staff  |  November 2, 2005

WASHINGTON -- In a power play that stunned and angered Republicans, 
Senate Democrats yesterday forced the chamber into a rare closed session 
to demand further investigation into the intelligence that led the 
nation into the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq.

After the two-hour session, lawmakers emerged to announce that the 
Intelligence Committee would resume work on its investigation of the 
prewar intelligence next week. Republicans insisted the review was 
already scheduled to begin next week, but Democrats countered that the 
GOP had been dragging its feet on the inquiry since before the 2004 
presidential election, as US casualties mounted and more questions 
surfaced about the war.

''The troops have a right to expect answers and accountability worthy of 
[their] sacrifice," Senate minority leader Harry Reid, Democrat of 
Nevada, told his colleagues on the floor before calling for the 
closed-door session. ''I demand on behalf of the American people that we 
understand why these investigations aren't being conducted."

The maneuver clearly surprised the Republicans, who derided it as a 
''political stunt" and accused Democrats of undermining the civility of 
an institution that has already become extremely rancorous.

''Never have I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the 
leadership of this grand institution," Senate majority leader Bill 
Frist, Republican of Tennessee, told reporters after Reid's 
parliamentary move. ''It means from now on, for the next year and a 
half, I can't trust Senator Reid."

The Senate has held 53 closed sessions since 1929, usually about 
national security matters. When Rule 21 is invoked and seconded, doors 
to the chamber are shut without debate, the lawmakers present must turn 
in their cellphones and pagers, and the substance of the meeting must 
not be publicly discussed.

The private session could not force the Republicans to take any action, 
but the Democrats outmaneuvered and frustrated the majority party, which 
has largely had its way since the GOP took control of the chamber in 2002.

The episode highlighted the turmoil on Capitol Hill. Frustrated 
Democrats have seethed about what they call a lack of accountability in 
a government controlled by one party, and Frist is struggling to keep 
order in the chamber and within his own ranks.

Republicans were divided over the failed Supreme Court nomination of 
Harriet E. Miers, who withdrew her candidacy under fire last week. The 
indictment and resignation last week of White House adviser I. Lewis 
''Scooter" Libby on perjury charges has further rattled Republicans and 
fueled the rhetoric of Democrats, some of whom have accused the Bush 
administration of going to war on false pretenses.

The one political boost the Republicans received this week -- the 
Supreme Court nomination of Samuel A. Alito Jr., a highly regarded 
appellate judge -- was eclipsed yesterday by the Democrats' maneuver.

(Continued)...

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2005/11/02/senators_clash_over_inquiry_on_iraq/
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