by TChris

Amid increasing Republican support for an independent investigation of the intelligence upon which the Bush administration based its case for the war in Iraq, Vice President Cheney has reportedly told key lawmakers that the Bush administration is open to "a range of options." President Bush has stated only that he wants to know about the discrepancies between pre-war intelligence about WMD's and the post-war discovery that no WMD's can be found. It is unclear whether the "range of options" that Cheney mentioned would be broader than the inquiry envisioned by Bush. Would the administration support an independent investigation that would ask whether it selectively relied upon questionable intelligence to build a case for war?

Support for an independent investigation of some sort is growing in the president's party.

"A lot of Republicans are ready to get on the independent bandwagon," a senior GOP Senate leadership aide said.

They include John McCain (R-AZ) and former Defense Secretary William Cohen. But the real question is whether any investigation will be limited to "intelligence failures" or will expand to include the administration's use of that intelligence.