To the editor:

I was amused by the Journal-World’s editorial (July 16) touting Kansas Sen. Pat Roberts’ merits in leading the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence in an investigation of President Bush’s lying about the evidence in support of a pre-emptive war against Iraq. Given the results of Bush effectively convincing Congress to support a war that is, at the very least, morally questionable, very costly and internationally unpopular, the Republicans’ reluctance to endorse an independent commission to investigate the president’s lies is truly amazing. They obviously apply a double standard when it is one of their own.

I remember in 1998, even before the special prosecutor’s report was released and the Senate hearings, Sen. Sam Brownback was openly asking President Clinton to resign because he believed that the president had lied about the nature of his relationship with an intern. Indeed, it seems that either Republican senators cannot comprehend the gravity of President Bush’s behavior or their righteous indignation is inversely proportional to the actual harm caused by the event to be investigated.

Donald Hatcher,

Lawrence