WASHINGTON-Democratic minority forced the senate into a closed session on November 1 to pressure the Republican majority into finishing an investigation of the intelligence that led to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
The closed session was possible by invoking Senate Rule 21. During closed sessions, television coverage is prohibited; journalists, photographers and staff members are escorted out of chambers. Only Senators are allowed to be present and even they cannot carry cell phones.
This rule is traditionally invoked during meetings discussing national security. Since 1929, it has been invoked 53 times. Six of which were during the Clinton impeachment proceedings.
This pressure comes on the heals of Lewis Libby’s indictment last week. Senate minority leader Harry Reid said, “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.”
This investigation began in response to an Intelligence Committee report in July 2004 which blamed the CIA for policy makers “mistaken belief” that Iraq had resumed its nuclear weapons programs.
Senator Dick Durbin, D-Ill., cited last year’s election as the reason for not completing what has been called “Phase II” of the investigation. However, said Durbin “another year has passed, there is no deadline… The American people are entitled to this information.”
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist called Reid’s request a “political stunt.”
Frist continued to say he had never “been slapped in the face with such an affront to the leadership of this grand institution.”
Frist went on to remark, “For the next year I can’t trust Senator Reid.”
Reid invocation of Rule 21 infuriated Republicans, however it produced an agreement to form a bipartisan committee to evaluate the Senate Intelligence Committee’s schedule for the investigation.
After the session, Frist announced that he and Sen. Reid would each appoint three senators to complete the investigation of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Reid stated “There is nothing more important to Congress or a president than a war… I think the American people are entitled to know how we got there.”
Frist told reporters he was deeply disappointed that Democrats would resort to “this political stunt- this scare tactic.” But, he finished “if they want to get into the gutter, I guess that’s what they’ll do.”