Phase II Update: the Senate intel committee has approved two of the five sections of its long awaited "Phase 2" investigation, on how the administration used the pre-war intelligence it received. The committee awaits declassification to release those sections; and that presents yet another hold up, the NYT reports:

The Republican chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee lashed out at the White House on Thursday, criticizing attempts by the Bush administration to keep secret parts of a report on the role Iraqi exiles played in building the case for war against Iraq.

The chairman, Senator Pat Roberts of Kansas, announced Thursday that his committee had completed the first two parts of its long-delayed investigation of prewar intelligence. But he chastised the White House for efforts to classify most of the part that examines intelligence provided to the Bush administration by the Iraqi National Congress, a controversial exile group.

“I have been disappointed by this administration’s unwillingness to declassify material contained in these reports, material which I believe better informs the public, but that does not — I repeat, does not — jeopardize intelligence operations, sources and methods,” Mr. Roberts said in a statement issued Thursday.

One completed section of the Senate report is said to be a harsh critique of how information from the Iraqi exile group made its way into intelligence community reports, said people who have read the report but spoke on condition of anonymity because it is still classified.

Four Republicans voted against the Chalabi/INC section of the report, all the Democrats voted for it.

No schedule for when the last three sections of Phase II may be completed. One section -- on the intelligence activities of the office of the former undersecretary of defense for policy -- has been entirely outsourced to the Pentagon IG's office, with no work at all happening at the Senate intel committee.

More from me here on this.

Posted by Laura at August 3, 2006 09:47 PM