The Senate on the Case?

So is the Senate finally seeing the light and getting ready to live up to its oversight responsibilities? Don't count on it. On Monday The New York Times reported that the Senate Intelligence Committee was going to look into the CIA's use of cover to protect the identities of its operatives. Kansas Repub Pat Roberts, chair of the committee, started off talking a good game: "You cannot be in the business of outing somebody" who's undercover. Fair enough. But unfortunately, he wasn't finished yet. "I must say from a common-sense standpoint, driving back and forth to work to the CIA headquarters, I don't know if that really qualifies as being, you know, covert." In other words, maybe the CIA is getting a little carried away with itself, granting cover to every Tom, Dick, and Harry (excuse me, every John Doe, John Doe, and John Doe) who might come up with a lame excuse to get it. But don't get the wrong idea--"Generically speaking, it is a very serious matter," he continued.

Somebody over at the comments to a Daily Kos post about the hearings suggested that the real agenda here was to get Rove, Libby, and whoever else up to Capitol Hill to grant them immunity for their testimony. I mentioned Ollie North a couple of days ago, and that's similar to how his situation played out. Congress (held by Democrats at the time, so this appeared to be a stupid mistake rather than a cunning plan) gave him immunity for anything he might say before them, and he confessed to lying previously to the legislative body. He was later tried and convicted on various counts, but he was let off on a technicality when an appeals court ruled that the jury pool had been contaminated by his Congressional testimony, and it wasn't possible for Ollie to get a fair trial. While it could work the same for the current White House boys, I'm not sure they'll make it that far. Even though he ultimately won his freedom and his conviction was overturned, Oliver North still had to go through the indignity of a trial, and he was still found guilty. I think odds remain far better that W will just randomly hand out pardons to whomever seems to need them at the time.