WASHINGTON — Efforts to appoint an independent counsel to investigate the Bush Administration's covert policies and prewar assistance to Iraq received a boost Wednesday when the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee said his panel will consider the matter.
"Some disturbing information has surfaced suggesting that this officially sanctioned policy may have gone as far as to involve violations of federal criminal law," said Judiciary Chairman Jack Brooks (D-Tex.). "In order to investigate these allegations thoroughly and definitively, it may be necessary for the Judiciary Committee to request that an independent counsel be appointed."
Brooks is seen as a key figure in the independent counsel process. House strategists said that his decision to schedule a June 2 hearing on the issue was a sign that he may support calls for an independent counsel.
Brooks acted after a request from Rep. Henry B. Gonzalez (D-Tex.), the chairman of the House Banking Committee, which has been investigating the role of U.S. companies and banks in arming Iraq. Rep. Charles E. Schumer (D-N. Y.), a member of the Judiciary Committee, also has sought a special prosecutor.
The Judiciary Committee has the power to make an official request on behalf of Congress for a special prosecutor to investigate potential government misconduct. The Justice Department, however, is not required to call for the appointment even after receiving such a request. If the department does decide one is merited, the final decision is then made by a special panel of three federal judges.
Congressional sources said there are a number of potential areas of investigation. Among them are third country transfers of American arms to Iraq during the Ronald Reagan and Bush administrations, delays in the indictment of officials at an Atlanta bank that provided Iraq with billions of dollars in fraudulent loans and misleading testimony and altered documents provided to congressional committees.
Calls for an independent counsel come as Democrats in Congress are charging that the Bush Administration has refused to cooperate with congressional investigations of the prewar U.S. policy toward Iraq. They contend that the Administration has withheld documents and refused to declassify other records that might prove embarrassing to the Administration.
