Guardian
Democratic senators took the highly unusual step yesterday of forcing the US Senate into closed secret session for more than two hours, accusing its Republican majority of colluding with the White House by failing to investigate whether intelligence had been manipulated to justify the Iraq war.In an attempt to keep pressure on the Bush administration that drew a furious reaction from Republicans, the Democratic leader, Harry Reid, said the American people and US troops deserved to know the details of how the country became engaged in the war, particularly in light of last week's indictment for perjury of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, chief of staff to the vice-president, Dick Cheney.
"They [Republican senators] have repeatedly chosen to protect the Republican administration rather than get to the bottom of what happened and why," Mr Reid said. He accused the chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, Pat Roberts, of failing to follow through on a promise to conduct a thorough inquiry into prewar intelligence, including how the White House had used or misused it.
Invoking Rule 21 - a move that has not been used for more than 25 years - the Democrats shut down television cameras in the chamber for more than two hours, cleared galleries of reporters and other onlookers, forced the removal of staff members and recording devices and stopped work on legislation.
Republicans, who were not warned of the manoeuvre in advance, described it as a stunt. "The Senate has been hijacked by the Democratic leadership," the majority leader, Bill Frist, said. "Never have I been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution."
But Democrats were unapologetic, and last night claimed at least a partial victory after an agreement was thrashed out to form a bipartisan group of six senators to report on the intelligence committee's progress. The panel is due to report back by November 14, although it was not immediately clear last night what use would be made of the report.
Mr Reid's move refocused attention on the continuing controversy over intelligence that Mr Bush had cited in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Despite prewar claims, no weapons of mass destruction were found in Iraq, and Democrats have accused the administration of manipulating the information.
"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," Mr Reid said before invoking Senate rules that led to the closed session.
Mr Libby resigned from his White House post last Friday after being indicted on charges of obstruction of justice, making false statements and perjury in an investigation into who leaked the identity of a CIA official married to a critic of the administration's Iraq policy.
Democrats contend that the unmasking of Valerie Plame was in retribution for her husband, Joseph Wilson, publicly challenging the Bush administration's contention that Iraq was seeking to purchase uranium from Africa - part of the US justification for going to war.
Last week was a bruising one for the White House. As well as the Libby indictment, it saw the US death toll in Iraq pass the 2,000 mark and the humiliating withdrawal of Mr Bush's supreme court nominee, Harriet Miers. In a bid to regain the news agenda, Mr Bush yesterday announced a major bird flu initiative, but the Democrats' move will ensure this morning's newspapers and TV shows are again dominated by the Iraq intelligence row.
