Leahy strikes conciliatory tone in televised interview

12/19/2006

By David Gram
Associated Press

MONTPELIER — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., making clear that he might use subpoenas to get information from the Bush administration, says he'll first try to get the administration's cooperation.

In an interview taped for C-Span's "Newsmakers" program, which aired Sunday, the incoming chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee said he is "going to go on the assumption they'll act as they have in the past, as the people in those positions have acted in the past, and give cooperation."

"Let's try that route first," the senator said, according to a transcript provided by the cable television network. "I think that's the best way to do it. If I don't get cooperation then I'll — to quote what the president says, 'all options are on the table'."

Leahy said the administration had been slow to provide information on a wide range of tactics in its war on terrorism — ranging from alleged torture of detainees to warrantless electronic surveillance of Americans — because the until now Republican-controlled Congress had not been aggressive in questioning its policies.

Leahy said he had learned during his Senate career that "if people really will ask questions, that they really will be aggressive, that they won't accept just non-answers. There's a lot more information forthcoming."

Leahy's comments echoed those he made in a speech Wednesday at the Georgetown University Law Center and elsewhere that much more scrutiny of the administration's actions is needed. In the C-Span interview, he called the Republican Congress "a rubber stamp for the Bush administration."

Leahy said he had supported or would support legislation to correct a number of what he sees as abuses by the administration. But he also said he would start with hearings to gather information and build support.

He cited electronic eavesdropping, "data-mining," in which information is gathered on huge numbers of Americans and the development of databases that have prompted the inclusion of Sen. Edward Kennedy and a 1-year-old baby on terrorism watch lists.

"We won't tell you what it says about you," Leahy said of the databases. "But we'll tell a foreign government. We may tell your employer."

Leahy recently announced the creation of a new Judiciary subcommittee to look into alleged human rights abuses, particularly of detainees in the war on terrorism.

"I want to know exactly what's being done. I want to know what the best of America is being upheld," he said on the C-Span program. "It's going to be a pretty broad mandate. ... I don't intend it as window dressing."

Leahy also spoke of legislation he has sponsored to crack down on alleged "war profiteers," — military contractors in Iraq who have made enormous sums off of America's taxpayers.

Leahy said the Judiciary Committee would study possible legislation that would set up a "shield law" for reporters, protecting them from being forced to reveal confidential sources.

He said he is generally sympathetic to the media's reporting about government leaks. "Think of a number of times this country has been saved from some major mistakes because the press has found things we were doing wrong and has published it."

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