Originally Posted by Lazarus

Well, it is rather disheartening that no one has seen the true Bush agenda in effectively silencing criticism or not allowing Congressmembers to raise concerns about the lawfullness of programs.
Bush is using Congress as his personal attorneys - using some warped attorney-client privilege, or as priests - not able to reveal confessionals.

If I were in Congress and called in to a briefing with this Administration, I would be hesitant to attend. I have no doubt that many bombshells were dropped in these briefings, bombshells totally unrelated to the stated, expected topic of said briefing(s).
But once a program is mentioned, even during a sneak-attack, that triggers a gag on those in attendance. The official conducting the brief has his list of attendees and knows who is no longer able to raise objections. And he also knows who remains to send invites out to.
If the Admin pulled that shit on me as a Congressman, I would definitely give others a heads-up as to what to expect and for them to weigh heavily whether to accept any invitations or even to talk to certain individuals. There is the chance that the ( classified ) topic will accidentally be mentioned, and then having the culprit admit that the subject should not have been brought up and that he expects the information to be held to the same standards as if it were divulged in an official capacity. Oh, and before he lets you walk away, he must mention the ramifications if this info is shared with others. Quite the underhanded way to quash critical, necessary open discussion of legally questionable programs.
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jviehe -

The last time Democrats forced the Senate into closed session, the Republicans screamed bloody murder.
If you recall, that was an attempt to force Senator Roberts to cease obstruction, do his f ' ing job, stop shielding Bush from his dubious twisting ( cherry-picking ) of pre-war intelligence, and release Phase II of the Intel Report.
That was a long time ago, and yet we still wait while he still drags his heels.
I guess that the elections will loosen Roberts' grip.