Iraq intel failure report will see another election come and go

In 2004, the senate vowed to publish a two-part report on the runup to Iraq. The first was to look at the mistakes intelligence agencies made. No problem. It came out that year. The second part was to look at how the administration misused intelligence to push the case for war. Being an election year, the stonewalling began. No report.

Last year, Democrats loudly protested, and extracted another promise from Kansas senator Pat Roberts (one of the most reliable Bush allies in the body) that it would be completed very, very soon. But it isn't anywhere near completion, and we're in another election year.

The Republican-led committee, which agreed in February 2004 to write the report, has yet to complete its work. Just two of five planned sections of the committee's findings are fully drafted and ready to be voted on by members, according to Democratic and Republican staffers. Committee sources involved with the report, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said they are working hard to complete it. But disputing Roberts, they said they had started almost from scratch in November after Democrats staged their protest. (. . .)

The section most Democrats have sought, however, is not yet in draft form and might not emerge until after the November election, staffers said. That section will examine the administration's deliberations over prewar intelligence and whether its public presentation of the threat reflected the evidence senior officials reviewed in private.