Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Two of the sweetest words in the English language: cover up:

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- Florida Sen. Bob Graham, the last man to enter the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, was the first candidate to challenge President Bush over his honesty as a leader of the war on terrorism. The ranking Democrat of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Graham has launched a drumbeat of criticism of the president for allegedly stonewalling Americans on the facts of past and present intelligence failures.

Graham is a quiet man who is considered a long shot among Democratic contenders. But he is the only one to stake out an aggressive position on the basis of classified information he obtained as co-chair of a congressional panel investigating the intelligence community's failure to anticipate the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Not only has he complained that the administration has dragged its feet for five months on declassifying the panel's 800-page report, but he has warned that he will take his case later this month to Vice President Dick Cheney, who oversaw the inquiry.

"I was raising my voice about my concern on this long before I became a candidate," said Graham, the only senator running for president who voted against congressional authorization of the war in Iraq, arguing that the terrorist threat posed by Al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden should be the top priority for the administration.

"The American people deserve to know what their intelligence agencies have done or not done, and Congress needs to know so that reforms can be made," Graham said in an interview. Arguing that the president had let homeland security slip because of his obsession with toppling Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, Graham charged, "The fact is that there was information known to the administration before 9/11 that was not acted on then and isn't being acted on now. The administration is engaging in a cover-up to protect itself from embarrassing disclosures."


GO GET HIM BOBBY!!!!!!!! But, will the cattle listen?
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