Senate Democrats suggest a Bush 'Truth Commission'

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats suggested yesterday that Republicans should join their call for a nonpartisan "Truth Commission" to probe whether the Bush administration abused its power, or face partisan congressional investigations.

The GOP response: Forget it.

Sen. Patrick J. Leahy, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, was supported in his commission proposal by a former career diplomat and a retired admiral. But he told a hearing he convened that if Republicans "remain absent or resistant, this opportunity can be lost."

He said the alternative was "accountability through more traditional means" - defined by Leahy's aides as congressional hearings controlled by Democrats.

Both moderate and conservative Republicans made clear to Leahy (D., Vt.) that they would take their chances with the alternatives to a "Truth Commission."

Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, ranking GOP member on the committee, said he opposed the "Truth Commission" because Democrats "can walk in the front door" of the Justice Department and "ask directions to the relevant filing cabinet."

Specter has often criticized the former administration's assertion of extraordinary powers to fight the war on terror, but he said the commission was unnecessary.

Sen. John Cornyn (R., Texas) said: "The idea that this so-called Truth Commission would somehow resolve the good-faith disagreements . . . is just asking us to believe in the tooth fairy." He said he was willing to have Congress do the job itself.

The Justice Department is, in fact, opening the file drawers to make public the formerly secret Bush administration memos on counterterrorism.

The documents released Monday by the department showed the Bush administration determined that certain constitutional rights would not apply as the United States stepped up its response to terrorism.

Within two weeks of the 9/11 attacks, government lawyers were discussing ways to wiretap U.S. conversations without warrants, the documents showed.

The Bush administration eventually abandoned many of the legal conclusions, but the documents themselves had been closely held.

Leahy has not yet introduced a bill that would show the composition of a commission. The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, John Conyers Jr. of Michigan, has introduced legislation for a similar commission.

"There should not be a focus on retribution or payback, and such an effort should not be used for partisan purposes," said Sen. Russ Feingold (D., Wis.), a supporter of the commission. He told Leahy: "That is why your proposal, Mr. Chairman, is so important. Your proposal is aimed at finding the truth, not settling scores."

Thomas Pickering, ambassador to the United Nations under President George H. W. Bush, gave Leahy's idea strong support at the Senate hearing.

"We must, as a country, take stock of where we might have been and determine what was not acceptable, what should not have been done, and what we will never do again," he said.