Thursday, July 9, 2009

Is Pelosi off the hook? NOT

On Today's ED show on MSNBC, Ed Schultz frequently (and gleefully) made the point that Nancy Pelosi was vindicated in the issue of waterboarding. Daily Kos weighs in on a similar thread. However, the Daily Kos article includes a link to this article by one of their own bloggers, which indicates that whatever the CIA was lying about, it wasn't the waterboarding.
But the dates don't line up. In their letter, the lawmakers note that members of Congress were "misled" for "a number of years, from 2001 to this week." Pelosi, however, contended that the CIA lied to her about the use of harsh interrogation techniques during the fall of 2002.
...
Panetta "stopped the program the day after he was informed." Waterboarding was ended as a practice during the Bush years.
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when Panetta told House Intelligence Committee members what it was that had been kept secret, "the whole committee was stunned, even Republicans."
I have to commend Sam Stein for the honesty in clarifying (actually, contradicting) an earlier post of his own, that did support Pelosi's account. There are other articles supporting Stein's work, such as by ABC.
The covert operation in question was counter-terrorism program. Intelligence officials said it had nothing to do with waterboarding or interrogation
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"Director Panetta stands by his May 15 statement," (contradicting Pelosi)


Obviously, the CIA should not lie to, mislead, or omit critical facts from Congress, especially it's oversight committee. And this matter should be investigated. But, so far, it appears that the CIA versus Pelosi dispute is still unsettled, no matter what the left may say.

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