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The Fall of Pelosi?

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  • The Fall of Pelosi?

    May be a bit hyperbolic, but Pelosi is drawing a hell of alot of heat. Somehow all of the negativity that had been focused on Republicans and whoever is now focused directly on Pelosi... “what did she know and when did she know it” -- overtones of Nixon. I think this is going to some lasting consequences and last a heck of alot longer than a single news cycle:
    Nancy Pelosi draws fire over CIA claim

    House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s claim Thursday that CIA officials lied to her about waterboarding prompted a sharp rebuke from Republicans, some pushback from intelligence officials and a lukewarm response from at least one high-ranking member of her own party.

    Hoping to quell a “what did she know and when did she know it” furor over so-called enhanced interrogation techniques, Pelosi told reporters Thursday that CIA officials “misled” her during a September 2002 briefing by telling her that waterboarding had not been used on terror detainees.

    “The only mention of waterboarding in the briefing was that it was not being employed,” Pelosi said during a press briefing. The California Democrat said that the CIA briefers had given her “inaccurate and incomplete information.” Asked whether they’d “lied” to her, Pelosi nodded her head yes.

    The Republican pushback came quickly.

    Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.), the ranking member on the House intelligence committee, called Pelosi’s account “Version 5.0 from Nancy on what happened in that September meeting.”

    Writing in POLITICO’s Arena forum, former Bush White House press secretary Dana Perino said Pelosi had succeeded only in raising more questions.

    “Is she suggesting that career government officials, those very CIA briefers, are the ones that ‘lied’ to her? What would have been their motivation for lying to her but others who got the same briefing not being lied to? Why does she suggest she was powerless?” Perino wrote.

    A CIA spokesman said it is “not the policy of the CIA to mislead the United States Congress.”

    And on the House floor Thursday evening, Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) passed up a chance to back up Pelosi’s charge. House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) asked Hoyer if he also believed that the CIA had intentionally misled the House.

    Hoyer’s response: “I have no idea of that — don’t have a belief of that nature because I have no basis on which to base such a belief. And I certainly hope that’s not the case. I don’t draw that conclusion.”

    Hoyer struck a more supportive tone when speaking to liberal talk show host Ed Schultz.

    “I believe the speaker,” Hoyer said, calling the furor over Pelosi “a stalking horse” and “a distraction.”

    “We know things were done. We know that the law — we believe, certainly — was broken, and we ought to find out whether the law was broken. ... I think she’s accurate when she says what she said.”

    Pelosi also got support from other House Democrats, including Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), an Intelligence Committee member who said that CIA officials broke the law if they misled Pelosi in 2002.

    “If they make a false report, absolutely it’s illegal,” Schiff told reporters. “If they fail to make a report when they’re obligated to, that is also illegal — a violation of the National Security Act.”

    Pelosi called on CIA Director Leon Panetta to release full details on the 2002 briefing.

    A spokesman for Panetta said the director has agreed to make the notes of Pelosi’s briefing “available at CIA for staff review” — saying aides with security clearances could review them at the agency’s Langley, Va., headquarters immediately.

    A Pelosi aide said that wasn’t good enough, because the contents of the notes are classified and can’t be shared with the public.

    “We think the best way for this to come out is to release the materials,” said the aide.

    Panetta recently released a chart detailing 40 congressional briefings on interrogations — including the September 2002 entry reporting that Pelosi had been given details about “particular” interrogation methods used on detainees.

    “The language in the chart — ‘a description of the particular [enhanced interrogation techniques] that had been employed’ — is true to the language in the agency’s records,” a CIA spokesman said in an e-mail.
    Read more: Nancy Pelosi draws fire over CIA claim - Glenn Thrush - POLITICO.com
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

  • #2
    Go figure, the Washington Post is getting into the dirty details. They've even got their own "Deep Throat" -- non-anonymous though.
    Top Pelosi Aide Learned Of Waterboarding in 2003

    A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a CIA briefing in early 2003 in which it was made clear that waterboarding and other harsh techniques were being used in the interrogation of an alleged al-Qaeda operative, according to documents the CIA released to Congress on Thursday.

    Pelosi has insisted that she was not directly briefed by Bush administration officials that the practice was being actively employed. But Michael Sheehy, a top Pelosi aide, was present for a classified briefing that included Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking minority member of the House intelligence committee, at which agency officials discussed the use of waterboarding on terrorism suspect Abu Zubaida.

    A Democratic source acknowledged yesterday that it is almost certain that Pelosi would have learned about the use of waterboarding from Sheehy. Pelosi herself acknowledged in a December 2007 statement that she was aware that Harman had learned of the waterboarding and had objected in a letter to the CIA's top counsel.
    washingtonpost.com
    "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

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    • #3
      who would replace her if she goes down?

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by Tarek Morgen View Post
        who would replace her if she goes down?
        The majority leader, maybe.

        One of the problems is that she's been calling for a "Truth and Reconciliation Commission", similar to what South Africa had at the end of apartheid. Except that she hasn't been quite forthcoming herself. Not implying that she was personally involved in the decisions that were made, but she had an opportunity to make it an issue before it got out of hand in the first place, and not having done so in my view undermines her credibility, makes her seem like a hypocrite. There's also the ancient adage "silence is assent."

        Furthermore, as the Democratic majority leader she could have raised her voice and broached the subject before it got out of hand. But, in her own words, she was too focused on wresting control of the Congress from the Republicans to be bothered with it.
        "Every man has his weakness. Mine was always just cigarettes."

        Comment


        • #5
          I am no fan but I think she will survive. The democrats were so scared of getting hammered on National Security they acquiesced on everything Bush wanted for several years. I think till the WMDs were discovered to be fiction they walked lockstep with the Administration and failed in many respects as an opposition party.
          Where free unions and collective bargaining are forbidden, freedom is lost.”
          ~Ronald Reagan

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Tarek Morgen View Post
            who would replace her if she goes down
            Stenny Hoyer most likely.
            F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: The Honda Accord of fighters.

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            • #7
              Couldn't happen to a better bold face lying idiot. Heres a hint, you dont want the CIA on your bad side and judging by her remarks where she tried to say the CIA either lied to her or misled her was definately a naive move. She asked for it more then a few times and now she has to answer for it.;)

              Please excuse me whilst I shed a tear for this moonbat...NOT!:P
              Last edited by Dreadnought; 15 May 09,, 13:20.
              Fortitude.....The strength to persist...The courage to endure.

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              • #8
                Pelosi hasn’t proven to be an asset for the Democrats at all, and here’s further proof!

                Nebula82.

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                • #9
                  In matters of National Security, it appears as though Obama is staying pretty centrist and pragmatic; regarding these matters, Pelosi becomes a liability because she isn't capable of not being partisan. Will she go? I doubt it. I think all of this will just "go away", unfortunately.

                  Interesting to see who Panetta will side with...he's known Pelosi a long time, but siding with her will certainly make his job very difficult.

                  I have a feeling we are going to see some significant leaks from CIA that make Pelosi look pretty bad.
                  America doesn't deserve its military

                  -Emma Sky

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                  • #10
                    Originally posted by nebula82 View Post
                    Pelosi hasn’t proven to be an asset for the Democrats at all, and here’s further proof!

                    Nebula82.
                    Yeah, like all extreme ideologues she does a lot more harm than good.
                    F/A-18E/F Super Hornet: The Honda Accord of fighters.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Tarek Morgen View Post
                      who would replace her if she goes down?

                      Rosie O'Donnell

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