According to a Washington Post article out today, the Chairman and Ranking Member of the Senate Intelligence Committee cannot agree on the scope of the investigation into the administration's use of intelligence leading to the Iraq war. Remember, the Senate Democrats effectively shut down the Senate recently to protest the lack of progress on the so-called "phase II" of the Intelligence Committee's investigation of pre-war intelligence.

The Chairman of the committee, Senator Pat Roberts (R-KS) says that the investigation will be limited to comparing administration officials' statements to intelligence reports to see if there is any disagreement. Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) says the investigation should include asking the same officials if they were aware of any dissention in the intelligence community to the findings of an individual report.

I would characterize this as Senator Roberts simply extending the administration's tactics of weeding out bits of intelligence to support their campaign for war and then blaming the intelligence community when that intelligence turns out to be wrong - regardless of whether the intelligence community may have concluded that the intelligence was dubious. For example, we know that the CIA was highly skeptical of the information that was being gathered about Saddam's connection to Al Qaeda or his attempts to buy uranium from Niger. Yet, the administration trumpeted this information as gospel.

Senator Roberts has a particularly skewed understanding of congressional oversight. Roberts appears to believe that his role as Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee is one of finding excuses for the administration's missteps, rather than holding the White House accountable. There is a wealth of information about the Office of Special Plans in the Pentagon and Vice President Cheney's efforts to "stovepipe" information to bypass regular intelligence vetting. As it turns out, some of the intelligence the White House received AS A RESULT of this process, was unreliable.

Now, Senator Roberts is going to fight to prevent a congressional review of this process by designing the investigation - which he has fought to kill for two years now - so that it will vindicate this form of intelligence gathering. Senator Roberts is doing this country a huge disservice by abdicating his responsibilities as a U.S. Senator and Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee by effectively signing off on this process and the disastrous results it has produced.