Incoming Chairmen Ready to Investigate

Incoming Chairmen Ready to Investigate
The Washington Post
Incoming Democratic committee chairmen say they will hold a series of hearings and investigations early next year to build the case for their call for a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and for possible action against defense contractors found to have wasted billions in federal funds.
The emerging plans to grill administration officials on the conduct of the war are part of a pledge for more aggressive congressional oversight on issues such as prewar intelligence, prisoner treatment at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay, and the government’s use of warrantless wiretaps.
Among the most eager incoming chairmen is Sen. Carl M. Levin (D-Mich.), a lawyer with a professor’s demeanor and a prosecutor’s doggedness. As head of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Levin, 72, will be his party’s point man on the Iraq war and on the Democrats’ call to begin withdrawing troops in the coming months.
In the House, Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.), another leading advocate of a phased withdrawal, has vowed to use his Appropriations subcommittee chairmanship to investigate the Iraq war, holding “two hearings a day for the first three or four months ….to find out exactly what happened and who’s been responsible for these mistakes.”
Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said he will use his Judiciary Committee perch to conduct “real oversight” of the FBI and the Justice Department and to delve into “the abuse of billions of taxpayers’ dollars sent as development aid to Iraq.”
“I am not prepared to accept answers like ‘I can’t talk about it,’ ” Leahy said in a recent speech at Georgetown University’s law school.
Levin, a sharp critic of the administration’s use of prewar intelligence, will have new, substantial powers to press the White House for information and for a new direction in Iraq.
Having Levin replace John W. Warner (R-Va.) as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee will “hugely” change oversight, said Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), a longtime colleague. Rockefeller, incoming chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, also plans more aggressive hearings.

Wild Thing’s comment……
They haven’t even been sworn in yet and ALREADY the investigations are starting, or being talked about. hahahaha Amazing, just amazing! The can hardly wait!