Barney Frank lets lose

"We have had a terrible blow to this country ... We owe the American people a full investigation," Democratic Representative Barney Frank said on the chamber floor.

"I wish this terrible abuse and these coverups and this refusal to supervise adequately -- I wish it was an exception," Frank said.

But in Iraq, he said, "we have had error after error after error."

"I do not think there has been a major national security operation handled as incompetently as this administration has muddled in Iraq in a very long time," the liberal Massachusetts lawmaker continued.

"Vietnam ultimately became a terrible set of mistakes, but I don't think in a comparable period, Vietnam was as badly handled," he said.