Pelosi going to war with CIA

[DanS]

This could get interesting...

Pelosi Accuses CIA of 'Misleading' Her on Interrogations

By Paul Kane
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi today accused the CIA of "misleading" her on the use of harsh interrogation techniques in the fall of 2002, acknowledging for the first time publicly she knew alleged terrorist detainees were subjected to waterboarding more than six years ago.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/05/pelosi_accuses_cia_of.html

[Drake Tungsten]

Let the leaks from CIA begin...

[Arrian]

Good. Down with Pelosi, and the more dirt gets dug up about the CIA torture program the better.

Win-win

-Arrian

[Drake Tungsten]

May I suggest that they leak these two memos first?

The Obama administration has turned down former Vice President Dick Cheney’s request for the declassification of two CIA reports on the effectiveness of the Agency’s detainee program, THE WEEKLY STANDARD has learned. A letter dated May 7, 2009, from the CIA’s Information and Privacy Coordinator, Delores M. Nelson, rejected Cheney’s request because the documents he has requested are involved in a Freedom of Information Act court battle.

“In researching the information in question, we have discovered that it is currently the subject of pending FOIA litigation (Bloche v. Department of Defense, Amnesty International v. Central Intelligence Agency). Therefore, the document is excluded from Mandatory Declassification Review,” Nelson wrote in the letter to the National Archives, the agency responsible for handling Cheney’s request.

The rejection of Cheney’s request will almost certainly intensify the public back-and-forth between the former vice president and the current administration. The contentious debate over enhanced interrogation exploded on April 16, when Obama authorized the release of four memos on interrogation prepared by the Bush Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel. In a statement accompanying the release, Obama pointed to “exceptional circumstances” surrounding the memos that required their declassification and release. Four days later, in an interview on Fox News, Cheney revealed that he had requested the declassification of two memos that demonstrate that the techniques were effective.

White House officials have told reporters and members of Congress that the Cheney memos do not bolster the case for enhanced interrogation, as Cheney has suggested. But they have nonetheless refused to release them. President Obama has the legal authority to declassify the documents “with the wave of his hand,” according to one expert.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/05/cheney_request_denied.asp

[Ramo]

Good. Down with Pelosi, and the more dirt gets dug up about the CIA torture program the better.

Win-win

-Arrian

Word. Any Dem who didn't object to torture should be publicly humiliated.

[Arrian]

That ought to clean out a good chunk of the Dem leadership. Like I said, win-win

-Arrian

[DanS]

Normally, I would just laugh off these inside-the-beltway fights. But we need the CIA to be effective now, and not worry about getting screwed by the politicians. The CIA is taking the lead in Afghanistan, after all.

[Drake Tungsten]

Screw Afghanistan. We need the CIA watching Pakistan and its nukes right now...

[Berzerker]

just saw Cheney's being implicated in trying to have some Iraqi officer waterboarded because, or so he could link Saddam to OBL/AQ

thats a POW, and the guy was cooperating. The people in charge of him refused the VP's "suggestion".

hmm...

[DanS]

Screw Afghanistan. We need the CIA watching Pakistan and its nukes right now...

Pakistan was incorporated in my reference to Afghanistan.

[Patroklos]

Pakafistan

[OneFootInTheGrave]

just saw Cheney's being implicated in trying to have some Iraqi officer waterboarded because, or so he could link Saddam to OBL/AQ

thats a POW, and the guy was cooperating. The people in charge of him refused the VP's "suggestion".

hmm...

next revelation... Cheney waterboarded terrorists after the shooting incident to relieve stress

[Darius871]

hehehe...

CIA Director Leon Panetta just sent a stern message to his employees defending the agency against Speaker Nancy Pelosi's criticisms.

His message: We didn't mislead Congress; stay focused on your job.

Panetta's note was sent to reporters via the CIA press office. Here's the key graph:

"Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing “the enhanced techniques that had been employed.” Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened."

In some ways, Panetta is doing what any executive would do: He's protecting his people and trying to boost morale for an agency that's under fire. But the political message is much stronger, as you have the a serious rift now between the most powerful congressional Democrat and one of the top officials in the Obama administration.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennt...h.html?showall

White House Dodges Question About Pelosi

[Drake Tungsten]

Weren't you the one who was skeptical of the power the CIA has to destroy politicians that cross it? You're about to get an object lesson...

[Darius871]

I still am, and she ain't going nowhere. That doesn't make it any less entertaining...