Pure divisiveness

If Democrats truly wanted to get to the bottom of the intelligence problems on the eve of the Iraq war, they could have simply worked with Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan. Roberts, who is overseeing a probe of the matter, is a straight shooter and no White House apologist.

And, indeed, Roberts says Democrats had been informed just two days before of the status of the probe into pre-war intelligence.

What Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., really wanted by forcing a dramatic closed-soor session of the U.S. Senate was to score political points.

Shame on Reid and his fellow partisans. We are at war with a vicious, stealthy enemy who will capitalize on any vulnerability - including open divisions in the ranks.

And when Reid invoked Rule 21 to clear the Senate chambers of all non-senators, he did so without any bow of courtesy to Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn. At least let him know it's coming. Washington's last ounce of bipartisan civility dried up this week.

We agree in principle that the country has a right to know what intelligence the administration was working with - and whether it was manipulated. But the shameless stunt by Reid won't help determine that.

We can have our differences. But we need to make sure they're not the end of us.