Roberts has delivered Karate chop after Karate chop to the light of day on White House intelligence manipulation. Soon we'll witness his Charlie kick to the Patrick Fitzgerald investigation.
Suspicions & Reservations About Sen Pat Roberts
I lost faith and trust in Sen Pat Roberts' ability to lead fair Senate Intelligence Committee investigations long ago. At first, I thought it was just typical partisanship that caused him to act as he has acted. We are involved in a war on "terror" - a seemingly endless and delicate war. These times are dangerous and call for our Senate to work together to do what's best to protect America. There is something suspicious about Roberts' willingness to throw national security over for not only partisan gain, but suspect covering up of a White House leak.
Roberts has participated in helping the White House to cover its ass in the past. I have blogged, in the past, about my suspicion that he (or other GOP Senate Intelligence Committee members) leaked information to the fake journalist Jeff Gannon (aka Jeff Guckert) who mysteriously came along at a time when Joe Wilson was being systematically torn down and Democratic computer files were being violated and pilfered for the Senate Intelligence Committee's benefit. It's all too questionable for me to say nothing. See this from a Washington Post article, from back in Nov, 2003:
"Angry about a leaked Democratic memo, the Republican leadership of the Senate yesterday took the unusual step of canceling all business of the committee investigating prewar intelligence on Iraq. Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) called on the author of the memo -- which laid out a possible Democratic strategy to extend the investigation to include the White House and executive branch -- to 'identify himself or herself . . . disavow this partisan attack in its entirety' and deliver 'a personal apology' to Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), chairman of the Select Committee on Intelligence. Only if those steps are taken, Frist said, "will it be possible for the committee to resume its work in an effective and bipartisan manner -- a manner deserving of the confidence of other members of the Senate and the executive branch."See my corresponding post from 2003, about Bill Frist and Pat Roberts working together to cover up the White House lies.
Roberts followed Frist on the floor and said that unless the Democratic members "properly" address the issue, "I am afraid that it will be impossible to return to 'business as usual' in the committee."
After discussions with Roberts, the majority leader said that "the committee's review is nearly complete" and "we have jointly determined the committee can and will complete its review this year."
"They can't do that," Rockefeller said, noting that hundreds of pages of requested documents have recently been promised by the State Department and Pentagon and more interviews have been scheduled.
In addition, he noted that the final report from David Kay, who heads the CIA's search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, has not been completed. "What can we say about prewar intelligence without Kay's report?" Rockefeller asked."
I smell one big rotten rat, I've smelled it for a long time, and I am sorry - I do not trust Sen Pat Roberts. Look at what he's doing now to cover the White House CIA leak [see Josh Marshall's commentary - also being discussed at TPM Cafe].
I think Pat Roberts should be investigated by a Senate Ethics Committee. In my opinion, his past actions have caused me to believe he's not trustworthy to head this type of Committee at this delicate time in our democracy's history. How can we protect America when our Representatives, who deal with oversight of Intelligence, are participating in blatant and dangerous partisan cover-up games? We were screwed once by the Bush administration's many manipulators of Intelligence (see "Iraq War}. We must not allow these games to be able to continue. Sen Pat Roberts is a symptom of our weakness, poor protection, and divisiveness - not the cure. I'd love to see his keister kicked off the Committee altogether. He has proven, to me, that he doesn't belong in that position.
This cover-up has been so blatant - and so obvious [linked: my post of Nov 2003]. Why hasn't the press picked up on this long ago?
See my July 9, 2004 post about Roberts' willingness to let the most important part of the investigation - which was the manipulation of the intelligence by the White House - SLIDE.
Related Daily Kos posting - "GOP to investigate Fitzgerald" (*Investigating the investigation? PLEASE!)
See Larry C. Johnson's statement on Roberts. [at "No Quarter"]
The Daily Howler is doing a lot of apologizing for Roberts (along with a good share of Josh Marshall-bashing). A curious exercise - with Somerby accusing those who point out the obvious fact that Sen Roberts is a partisan tribalist as being ......partisan tribalists (wow - I could've had a V8). Marshall, a journalist, has nowhere near Robert's power as head of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Somerby seems to have been struck down with the curse of evenhandedness, which will not get him far when it comes to speaking to power and getting anyplace close to the truth.
At Interesting Times, Chris Andersen wonders if Roberts is trying to use the subpoena power of his committee to determine what is going on within the Fitzgerald investigation.
"Might he pull an Ollie North and use congressional immunity to get damaging testimony about Plamegate out into the open so that that testimony cannot then be used by Fitzgerald in his investigation?"