Sen. Pat Roberts says he isn’t covering up anything.The Kansas Republican is chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, which has long delayed completion of a so-called “Phase II” report, investigating whether the Bush Administration intentionally trumped up flimsy intelligence to make its case to invade Iraq.Phase I – which looked into problems in intelligence gathering, not how it was used – was completed before the 2004 presidential election, with the promise Phase II would come after that race had been decided. And in November, Senate Democrats shut down that chamber in an attempt to draw attention to the fact the report still hadn’t been delivered.Earlier this week, The Washington Post reported that key parts of the report might not see daylight until after this November’s Congressional elections. That set off protests from Democrats and antiwar activists.Today, Robert makes his case in an interview with Bloomberg.Some excerpts:_The inaction, said Democratic lawmakers, former administration officials and intelligence analysts, is one example of Roberts’s unqualified support for the Bush administration that goes beyond the Iraq probe to include quashing inquiries into the torture of prisoners and the monitoring of domestic phone calls and e-mails.__ “I’m the bad guy; I’m the Darth Vader,” Roberts, 70, said in an interview a few weeks ago. He went on to deny that he had covered up or concealed anything._Roberts, as he has in the past, blamed Democrats for the failure of the probe to proceed._ Roberts dismissed the criticism, saying that he has tried to do his job impartially and that the delays were caused by Democratic maneuvering. He cited a meeting scheduled for July 13 to discuss the process for releasing the Phase II report that had to be postponed because of Democratic demands for more than two dozen changes to the conclusions.__ “Every time we get to a situation where you think we can make some progress, I may be first and 20 on the goal line, and all of a sudden I’m first and 40,” he said. “I am getting more than a little tired of getting blamed.”_The article also gets into criticism of Roberts over his committee’s oversight — or lack thereof — into NSA wiretapping programs, CIA interrogation techniques and torture allegations.Other links today.Sam Brownback(IFEX.org) REPORTER STRANGLED TO DEATH: Since Russian President Vladimir Putin came to power in 2000, at least 12 journalists have been murdered in contract-style killings, and none of the cases have been solved, say the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontiÃres, RSF). On 26 July 2006, Yevgeny Gerasimenko became the 13th casualty. He was found strangled in his apartment in the southern city of Saratov, reported CPJ, RSF and the Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations (CJES). … Gerasimenko’s murder occurred in the same week that the United States Senate issued a resolution condemning the murders of Russian journalists and calling on the Russian government to aggressively pursue its investigation into the July 2004 murder of American journalist Paul Klebnikov. Introduced by senators Hillary Clinton and Sam Brownback, Resolution 526 urges Russia to accept offers of assistance from the U.S. and other governments in its murder inquiry.(Washington Times) 400 conservative students meet: More than 400 conservative college students from across the country have gathered in Washington for a week of speeches, seminars and strategy. The National Conservative Student Conference offers a chance to “hear a different point of view than on campus,” said Taylor Stanford, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Young America’s Foundation (YAF) is sponsoring the event at George Washington University. … Other conference speakers include John Stossel of ABC News, columnist Robert Novak, economist Walter Williams, veteran conservative activist Bay Buchanan, authors Peter Schweizer and David Horowitz, former Secretary of State Alexander Haig and Sen. Sam Brownback, Kansas Republican.Jerry Moran(USA Today) Renew ties, some in Congress say: The prospect of an end to Fidel Castro’s regime in communist Cuba has already sparked renewed interest in Congress in restoring some ties with the island nation. … Rep. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican who favors agricultural trade with the Caribbean island, says Castro’s decision to temporarily step aside gives the Bush administration “a reason to at least consider some changes in our trade and travel to Cuba.” Moran has visited Cuba twice, which he is able to do as a member of Congress.How to contact As always, you can find information to contact members of the Kansas congressional delegation here.