Wouldn’t it be refreshing if there were any honest Republicans in Congress?

Senator Pat Roberts is so determined to delay a real probe into the Bush administration’s prewar deceptions that he’s breaking the promises he makes in his own press releases. On March 14, Roberts, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, put out a press release that purported to lay out a timetable for the committee’s ongoing probe.

One of Roberts’ key promises in the release was that on April 5 — over three weeks ago — a preliminary draft of the probe into the “public statements” section of the investigation would be delivered to committee members. This would be a very important step. That’s because the “statements” section is the most critical and controversial part of the ongoing “Phase II” of this probe — it’s supposed to investigate White House conduct, i.e., whether prewar public statements were supported by intelligence. From Roberts’ release:

April 5, 2006 - Preliminary draft on “statements” section of Phase II ready for members/liaison to review during the two week recess.

You’ll no doubt be surprised to hear this, but guess what: It didn’t happen. Wendy Morigi, a spokesperson for Senator Jay Rockefeller, the committee’s ranking Democrat, acknowledged in an interview with me that committee members hadn’t yet received the draft of the “statements” section.

Roberts has managed repeatedly to prevent a serious probe into this area — the line of inquiry potentially most damaging to Bush — instead focusing on the conduct of the intelligence agencies themselves. First he successfully delayed it until past the 2004 election. Now, according to a report yesterday in The Hill, Roberts is looking to put it off yet again. Thus the failure to deliver the draft.