Posted by Joel Mathis February 14, 2005 at 9:52 a.m.

Torture investigation

Sen. Pat Roberts is about to step into the middle of allegations that America has tortured terrorism suspects, reports [The New York Times][1]"The Senate intelligence committee is moving toward adoption of a plan to conduct a formal inquiry into the Central Intelligence Agency's handling of suspects captured in the American effort to curb terrorism, Congressional officials from each party said this week," wrote the Times' Douglas Jehl.Roberts is the committee's chairman, but the proposal came from the ranking Democrat Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia."Mr. Roberts said he was not sure that a formal investigation was warranted, but he suggested that the two sides could agree on a review. "'I don't anticipate any difference of opinion regarding the subject,' Mr. Roberts said. "Republican Congressional officials said they were reviewing a written proposal from the Democrats that outlined the possible scope of such a review. They said it appeared to focus on whether there was a sufficient legal foundation for the coercive interrogation methods, secret detention and extrajudicial handing over of detainees to other countries that the C.I.A. has practiced."Other links:Pat Roberts links [Conflicting word on U.S. drones over Iran:][2] "U.S. sources have given conflicting signals about the veracity of a Washington Post report that said America has been using unmanned flights for the past year to gather intelligence on Iran's nuclear capability. ," reports CNN. "Sen. Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on CNN's 'Late Edition' Sunday that the United States is not flying drones over Iran."[Bush congratulates Iraqi candidates in final election results:][3] "President Bush congratulated the Iraqi candidates and voters as final results in the country's national elections showed Shiites and Kurds led the ballot," reports The Associated Press. "Roberts said he is trying to remain optimistic the new government will have separation of religion and government so an Iranian-style theocracy does not emerge."Sam Brownback links [Refugees' Tales Heard by Powerful Audience of One:][4] "After hearing graphic stories of suffering directly from persecuted young people who fled to the United States, President Bush intervened personally to sharply increase the number of refugees admitted to the country - undoing the severe limits placed on such admissions for security reasons after the Sept. 11 attacks," reports The Los Angeles Times. Sen. Ted Kennedy and "Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) had asked former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell repeatedly since 2002 to restore refugee admission numbers to previous levels. Powell, since replaced by Condoleezza Rice, expressed strong interest in doing so - but until this year, concerns about cost and security hampered his efforts."How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation [here.][5] [1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/13/politics/13intel.html? [2]: http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/02/13/iran.intel/ [3]: http://www.boston.com/dailynews/045/wash/Bush_congratulates_Iraqi_candi:.shtml [4]: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-refugees14feb14,0,1501885.story?coll=la-home-headlines [5]: http://ljworld.com/extra/where_to_write.html#fed