Senate Democrats Back In Bush's Face Demanding Deep-Sixed Documents

[bigtree]

November 24, 2006

Senate Democrats Revive Demand for Classified Data

WASHINGTON, Nov. 23 — Seeking information about detention of terrorism suspects, abuse of detainees and government secrecy, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are reviving dozens of demands for classified documents that until now have been rebuffed or ignored by the Justice Department and other agencies.

“I expect real answers, or we’ll have testimony under oath until we get them,” Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who will head the committee beginning in January, said in an interview this week. “We’re entitled to know these answers, and in many instances we don’t get them because people are hiding their mistakes. And that’s no excuse.”

Mr. Leahy, who has said little about his plans for the committee, expressed hope for greater cooperation from the Bush administration, which he described as having been “obsessively secretive.” His aides have identified more than 65 requests he has made to the Justice Department or other agencies in recent years that have been rejected or permitted to languish without reply.

With little more than two weeks gone since the elections that gave his party a majority in both houses, Mr. Leahy has already begun pressing the Justice Department for greater openness. In a letter last Friday, he asked Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales to release two documents whose existence the Central Intelligence Agency, in response to a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union, recently acknowledged for the first time. Although their details are not known, the documents appear to have provided a legal basis for the agency’s detention and harsh interrogation of high-level terrorism suspects.

“The American people,” Mr. Leahy’s letter said, “deserve to have detailed and accurate information about the role of the Bush administration in developing the interrogation policies and practices that have engendered such deep criticism around the world.”

more: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/24/washington/24documents.html?ei=5087%0A&em=&en=60d6bedab7e81b15&ex=1164517200&pagewanted=print


pdf of letter: http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200611/11-16-06PJL%20CIA%20ltr%20to%20A.Gonzales.pdf

excerpt:

"The American people deserve to have detailed and accurate information about the role of the Bush Administration in developing the interrogation policies and practices that have engendered such deep criticism and concern at home and around the world. I ask that you promptly respond to the following questions and document requests."

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/200611/111706.html



http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree

[OffWithTheirHeads]

1. We need to contact Leahey, en mass, and let him know

that we the people, are aying attention and we care.
contact info:
http://leahy.senate.gov/
edited for spelling (so what else is new) and to add contact info.

[acmejack]

2. Concur!

Senator Leahy needs to hear from us! My letter of support will be on the way, right after my breakfast of left over thanksgiving veggies. A cornucopia of delights, they pig out on the poor turkey breast-I get the goodies!

[bonito]

3. Done

Sent my letter of support. Thanks

[bigtree]

4. and done!

Leahy back in action. Go get em!

[mzmolly]

5. Such a refreshing change. Makes the holiday season "bright."

:toast: To the good Senator!

[bigtree]

6. To him, and to the rest of them as well

:toast:

These Senators have had to endure the republican chairmen for an eternity, watching helplessly as the committees rubber-stamp Bush's fascist agenda. They've got to be feeling pretty powerful right now with the dual engines of change turning over and warming-up among the members of Democratic convoy set to roll in January.

[mzmolly]

7. Indeed.

:hi: