Wouldn't it be great if it were as simple as good vs. evil?

[AlGore-08.com]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&contentId=A44837-2004Apr26¬Found=true

Congressional Oversight of Intelligence Criticized
Committee Members, Others Cite Lack of Attention to Reports on Iraqi Arms, Al Qaeda Threat

By Dana Priest
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, April 27, 2004; Page A01

In the fall of 2002, as Congress debated waging war in Iraq, copies of a 92-page assessment of Iraq's alleged weapons of mass destruction sat in two vaults on Capitol Hill, each protected by armed security guards and available to any member who showed up in person, without staff.

But only a few ever did. No more than six senators and a handful of House members read beyond the five-page National Intelligence Estimate executive summary, according to several congressional aides responsible for safeguarding the classified material.

(snip)

There are other examples of Congress's lack of interest in the details of intelligence:

(snip)

Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.) said some members with packed daily schedules are deterred simply by the prospect of trekking across Capitol grounds to the secure Hart Senate Office Building room where the Senate's classified material is kept.

"Everyone in the world wants to come to see you" in your office, he said, and having to go to the secure room is "not easy to do." Members can't take notes, there is no staff to synthesize the material, and "it's extremely dense reading," he said. "It's the Brahms of music."

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