The LA Times reports on the plans for an investigation by Senate Democrats into the CIA under the Bush administration. Does anyone doubt that this will be a total sham? It will allow the Senate Democrats to "investigate" the evidence they want to look at without considering the national security ramifications. Without having to make a judgment on whether or not the officials broke the law, the Senate Democrats avoid all of the sticky issues concerning whether or not questionable, but not necessarily unlawful, actions were necessary to protect the country. It allows them to cherry-pick the story, present it in a light that is most favorable to them, feeds the base, and keeps alive a "Blame America/Bush/Republicans" storyline indefinitely. There are other investigations into detention policies that may or may not bear on the substantive issues, but this one has all of the appearances of being a political operation. Notice that this investigation will take up to a year, meaning this has no bearing on how detention policies should be crafted, unless the Senate Democrats are willing to wait a year to make such a determination (which would be an admission that they are not very serious at all).