Dana Milbank trains a sardonic eye on the heightened dispute between members of the Senate Select Intelligence committee over the fate of their long, long awaited Phase II report. As they came out of a meeting today to discuss differences over the probe:

Rockefeller reached out for a handshake. Roberts seemed baffled by the gesture and, after a painful pause, took the ranking Democrat's hand. Before Rockefeller could make his statement, Roberts turned and walked away. "There's no question that there are several areas where there are substantial disagreements," Rockefeller allowed.

For Roberts, the day did not improve during the afternoon. While the chairman lunched with fellow GOP senators, White House press secretary Scott McClellan, besieged at his briefing by questions about the torture policy, lost his cool. He told one reporter she was "showboating for the cameras" and another that she didn't "want the American people to hear what the facts are."

Emerging from lunch in the Capitol, Roberts, quickly surrounded by reporters asking similar questions, explained that although the United States shouldn't torture, prisoners should think otherwise. "It's the fear of the unknown that really allows us to get the answers that we need," he said.

Defending the military's treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, he added: "There are more senators and congressmen with ethics cases pending than there are problems with interrogation right now in Gitmo."

That argument might not earn him favor with his colleagues. ...

Update: I've finally put my finger on who the chairman of the committee reminds me of. One of those dour tall lanky characters from early American literature you had to read in 8th grade. Know what I mean? Something from Nathaniel Hawthorne?

Posted by Laura at November 9, 2005 12:32 AM