MONROVIA, Aug. 18 -- A pointed letter from Liberia's top police official to Sen. Amara Konneh has escalated tensions between law enforcement and the legislature over who is really being protected - and who is being scapegoated - in the country's record-setting cocaine investigation.

By Rodney D. Sieh, rodney.sieh@frontpageafricaonline.com

In a formal communication addressed to Konneh, Inspector General of Police Gregory O.W. Coleman, who also heads the Joint National Security Investigative Team, acknowledged the senator's right to scrutinize public institutions but argued that right comes with what he called a heightened obligation to accuracy when the subject is an active narcotics investigation touching national security.

The letter ...