The Democrats Have an Intelligence Problem

The most stunning thing is that this so called investigation is how obvious the naked politics are.

The House Intelligence Committee will launch an investigation to determine whether the CIA broke the law by not informing Congress earlier about a secret plan to train teams to kill Al Qaeda leaders abroad.

Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-Tex., chairman of the committee, announced the investigation in a statement Friday, saying the inquiry "will focus on the core issue of how the congressional intelligence committees and Congress are kept fully and currently informed."Reyes said the probe will be conducted in a "bipartisan manner."

"As I have said in the past, the committee supports the efforts of the CIA workforce in its difficult mission to keep America safe," he said in the statement. "I intend to make this investigation fair and thorough, and it is my goal that it will not become a distraction to the men and women of the CIA."

Let's keep in mind that the program at the center of this so called controversy was never operational. In fact, a former Bush official said that the president, who received daily intelligence briefings, was never briefed on this program.

The program was an idea by the CIA for targeted killings of top level Al Qaeda. At issue is the role of former Vice President Dick Cheney who may or may not have ordered the CIA to keep the program quiet.

It's important to point out that we've learned more about this program in the last three weeks than we knew about it in the previous nearly eight years. It's of course unclear why the program was kept from Congress, but if it was to prevent leaks, then the last three weeks have proven them right.

It's also important to point out that if the CIA had to brief Congress on every idea they came up with then all they would do is brief Congress. This program was never in a stage in which it needed to be briefed.

The Democrats have a national security problem. That's what happens when their leader in the legislature, Nancy Pelosi, acccuses the top spy agency of lying consistently to Congress with absolutely no proof. Sensing that her unsubstantiated charges would become a liability, the Democrats needed to find a trojan horse. They found it with this "program". Now, they are going to investigate a crime that doesn't exist to cover up for a baseless charge by their leader. Remember Nancy Pelosi claimed that the CIA essentially systematically lies to Congress but provided absolutely no evidence. This charge would be exactly that evidence.

It won't work. Nancy Pelosi's unsubstantiated charges were bad enough. Using the guise of an investigation to try and smear the former administration, and the spy agency by extension, in an attempt to change the subject is naked politcking. It won't work. The public is simply not that gullible.