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Pat Roberts should be protecting democracy, not President Bush  
By Mike Cuenca | July 15, 2003
The J-W's embarrassing fawning over Senator Pat Roberts in the face of his obvious protection of the Bush administration through his role as chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee is astounding. To proclaim that Roberts "will not stand in the way of disclosing pertinent information even if it might be harmful or embarrassing to the Bush administration" is like saying that the Kansas River is unpolluted.

The GOP leadership knows that open hearings on Watergate doomed Nixon's presidency. They don't want Bush facing that same peril. Roberts is dutifully fulfilling a partisan role by blocking open hearings and doing his best to assure that Bush will be protected from truly democratic, public scrutiny of his actions.

The June 19 editorial in The Nation argued that Roberts' actions signal "that he's more interested in hiding than seeking answers. His obstructionism is a good argument for the formation of an independent commission, which should hold televised hearings and call witnesses."

Paul Krugman, in the July 15 New York Times, wrote that Roberts "seems more concerned about protecting his party's leader than protecting the country." And that "those who politicized intelligence in order to lead us into war, at the expense of national security, hope to cover their tracks by corrupting the system even further."

What's at stake if Roberts succeeds in preventing full disclosure? The lives of U.S. servicemen and women, our nation's credibility, and how such intelligence failures/misuses may affect our ability as a nation to protect ourselves from real threats.

 


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Media Analysis
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Culture and Identity
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Environmental Justice
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