Democrats Force Closed Senate Session to Advance Investigation on Prewar Intelligence

WASHINGTON (CNN) November 2, 2005 — Democrats triggered a closed session of the full Senate on Tuesday night in an effort to pressure the chamber's Republican majority into completing an investigation of the intelligence underpinning the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Democrats complained that Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, a Kansas Republican, has failed to move forward on a promised investigation into the handling of prewar intelligence about Iraq's suspected weapons programs.

The probe would be a follow-up to the July 2004 Intelligence Committee report that blamed a "series of failures" by the CIA and other intelligence agencies for the mistaken belief among U.S. policymakers that Iraq had restarted its chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs.

After about an hour of closed deliberations, senators agreed to reopen the chamber and appoint a bipartisan group of senators to assess the progress of the "Phase 2" probe, the office of Majority Leader Bill Frist', R-Tennessee, told CNN.

The three Republicans and three Democrats are to report back to Senate leaders by November 14.

Democratic leaders had threatened to close the chamber each day until Republicans agreed to look into how Bush administration officials handled the intelligence used to argue for war.

"I demand, on behalf of the American people, that we understand why these investigations aren't being conducted," Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said from the floor as he invoked Senate Rule 21.

That rule bars the public from the chamber until a majority of members vote to reopen the session.

The move caught the chamber's GOP leadership by surprise, and Frist said Democrats had "hijacked" the Senate with a "pure stunt."

"In recent history, this just hasn't been done. And this lack of respect, the lack of civility is a real affront," Frist said. He said Rule 21 had been invoked only rarely and with "mutual conversation" between the leaders of both parties.

"This is an affront to me personally," he said. "This is an affront to our leadership. It is an affront to the United States of America, and it is wrong."

Democratic Whip Richard Durbin of Illinois said last week's indictment of Vice President Dick Cheney's top aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, on perjury and obstruction of justice charges showed how the Bush administration reacts to criticism.

Libby is accused of lying to investigators and a grand jury probing the disclosure of the identity of a CIA officer whose husband had challenged a key assertion in the administration's case for war.

"It's a question about whether or not anyone in this administration in any way misused or distorted intelligence to mislead the American people into believing an invasion of Iraq was necessary," Durbin said. He said senators owe the American people some straight answers."

Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, denied his party is trying to stall Senate action on Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. President Bush's nomination of the federal appellate judge on Monday bumped news of Libby's indictment to the back burner for many news organizations.

He said work on Alito's nomination was still going on, and he was scheduled to meet with the nominee on Wednesday.

Sen. Christopher Bond, an Intelligence Committee member, said Democratic complaints against Roberts are "terribly unfair and unfounded."

Bond, a Missouri Republican, said the panel's 2004 report found no indication that the mistaken assumptions about Iraq's weapons programs were the result of political pressure.

"Even after they signed on to that, they contend that somehow this intelligence was misused," he said.

Roberts has said publicly that the "Phase 2" investigation is under way by committee staff. But Sen. Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat on the panel, disputed that account.

"Assurances have been made for months that progress is being made," said Levin. "We have not seen any evidence of it."

Rule 21 has been invoked 53 times since 1929, according to the Congressional Research Service.

It was invoked six times during the impeachment trial of former President Bill Clinton for senators to organize the proceedings and deliberate on his eventual acquittal.