They meet behind closed, locked, soundproof and if you believed the movie "The Sum of All Fears," doors that fog up when the room is in use. All for good reason, as according to its Web site the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is charged with "assuring that the appropriate departments and agencies of the United States provide informed and timely intelligence necessary for the executive and legislative branches to make sound decisions affecting the security and vital interests of the Nation."
Doesn't seem like much of a place for partisan politics, does it? Unfortunately, a recently leaked memo written by a staffer for a Democratic member of the committee indicates that Democrats are prepared to abuse their position on the Intelligence Committee in order to wage a political war against President Bush.
However you see the war on terror, the fact remains that the U.S. military has active operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and several other countries. The greatest asset on the battlefield isn't troops, an F-18 Hornet or a Howitzer; the greatest asset is credible and timely intelligence. Ask any military analyst and they'll surely tell you a key factor in last spring's rapid invasion of Iraq was informed pre-invasion intelligence. Poor and ill-timed intelligence costs American lives both on and off the battlefield.
Last June, the Intelligence Committee began a bipartisan assessment of pre-war intelligence on Iraq and its weapons of mass destruction programs. It's no secret the intelligence community has had substantial difficulty obtaining credible human intelligence in a region that did not receive strong focus before September 11. Therefore, the importance of an analysis in intelligence gathering methods cannot be understated. The Democrats on the Intelligence Committee apparently have other ideas. A portion of the memo found in a transcript of an interview between Sean Hannity and Committee Chairman Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas reads, "Prepare to launch an independent investigation when it becomes clear we have exhausted the opportunity to usefully collaborate with the majority. We can pull the trigger on an independent investigation of the administration's use of intelligence at any time, but we can only do so once. The best time to do so will probably be next year."
The gist of the quote is that even if it becomes clear pre-war intelligence was credible (something liberal critics have been desperately trying to prove to the contrary), Democrats on the Intelligence Committee will launch their own investigation (most likely in the heart of Bush's re-election campaign) in an attempt to politicize America's war on terror and tarnish the president. The memo goes on to state, "Intelligence issues are clearly secondary to the public's concern regarding the insurgency in Iraq." This implies some members of the Senate Intelligence Committee would rather attempt to play public opinion against the president using an issue unrelated to the committee's primary role of overseeing America's intelligence programs and activities.
The mainstream media silence on the leaked memo has been deafening. Last July, when it was revealed that intelligence demonstrating Iraq's attempts to purchase yellowcake uranium ore from Niger may have been mistakenly exaggerated, the media response was fierce. Cries for Condoleezza Rice's resignation and an independent investigation rang out from all sides. Strangely now, when it's revealed members of the Senate Select Intelligence Committee are more concerned with the defeat of President Bush next year than they are in the oversight of America's intelligence faculties during wartime, there's virtually no mention of the memo in the mainstream media aside from those wacko's over at Fox News. God forbid someone would want to look into the author of the memo and how far the scheme reaches.
Lately there has certainly been a lot of partisan politics in Washington.The fight over judicial nominees has almost reached the breaking point, a partial-birth abortion ban has polarized both sides of the aisle on Capitol Hill and lest we forget a presidential election is less than a year away.When it comes to national security and intelligence, though, there really should be no debate.Go behind the Republicans' backs on social security, go behind their backs on tax cuts, but don't go behind their backs when the information is vital to the safety of thousands of our troops stationed overseas and the millions here at home.
(Joe Schilling's column appears Tuesdays in The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached a jschilling@cavalierdaily.com.)
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