Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., this afternoon decried Tuesday’s shutdown of the U.S. Senate by Democrats who accused him of foot-dragging in an inquiry into the Bush Administration’s use of pre-war intelligence on Iraq.

During a teleconference with Kansas media, Roberts – chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee – said Tuesday’s closed-door session of the Senate was a “petty public stunt” that was used to “attack me personally.”

He said the inquiry had been slowed by committee Democrats who refused to look at statements by all officials – including senators of both parties, not limited to the administration – in the months leading up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

“You can reach your own conclusion on why my friends across the aisle did not want to proceed,” Roberts said.

His committee has already concluded that massive failures caused intelligence services to incorrectly determine Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. Roberts said Wednesday he had no reason to believe the Bush Administration exaggerated that intelligence in making the case for war.

“I haven’t seen any (evidence) at this particular time,” Roberts said.