In a surprise move, Obama-appointed CIA director Leon Panetta sent a message to all CIA employees: we didn't lie to Congress. He goes on to tell them to stay focused on their job, which is protecting the nation, and not get caught up in Nancy Pelosi's little web.
I never would have expected such a strong move from an Obama appointee. He wants the CIA to continue to "tell it like it is," even if some people do not agree. Here is the full memo:
"Message from the Director: Turning Down the Volume
There is a long tradition in Washington of making political hay out of our business. It predates my service with this great institution, and it will be around long after I’m gone. But the political debates about interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday when the CIA was accused of misleading Congress.
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.
My advice — indeed, my direction — to you is straightforward: ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission. We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country.
We are an Agency of high integrity, professionalism, and dedication. Our task is to tell it like it is — even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it."
Well played, sir.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Pelosi Really Stepped In It
"Tactful" is not a word I would use to describe Nancy Pelosi. In her most recent episode, she denied knowing that the CIA was using waterboarding on terrorists, saying she was only briefed on techniques they were considering using in the future. "The CIA report details 40 briefings of congressional leaders, including a Sept. 4, 2002, memo that says Pelosi was present for a 'briefing on EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques), including use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah, background on authorities and a description of particular EITs that had been employed." Okay, well...let's just move on.
Now she's saying she wasn't briefed on the use of waterboarding at all. "'To the contrary ... we were told explicitly that waterboarding was not being used,' she told reporters, referring to a formal CIA briefing she received in the fall of 2002."
"CIA records show Pelosi attended only one briefing — the one in the fall of 2002 where she says she was told that waterboarding had not been used. A chart released by the CIA detailing its briefings for lawmakers is vague on what transpired at that session. It says Pelosi and the top Intelligence Committee Republican, then-Rep. Porter J. Goss of Florida, were given a 'description of the particular (enhanced interrogation techniques) that had been employed,' without further details.
As if being contradicted wasn't bad enough, she then turns her guns on the CIA and Republicans: "'They mislead us all the time,' she said. And when a reporter asked whether the agency had lied, Pelosi said yes.
She also suggested that the current Republican criticism marked an attempt to divert attention from the Bush administration's actions.
'They misrepresented every step of the way, and they don't want that focus on them, so they try to turn the attention on us,' she said.
Pelosi contended that Democrats did what they could to stop the use of waterboarding. The senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, who received the 2003 briefing on the practice, sent the CIA a formal letter of protest, she said.
But Pelosi defended her own lack of action on the issue, saying her focus at the time was on wresting congressional control from Republicans so her party could change course.
'No letter could change the policy. It was clear we had to change the leadership in Congress and in the White House. That was my job — the Congress part,' Pelosi said.
Let me get this straight; the CIA lied to her, Republicans lied to her, the President lied to her, and she didn't do anything about it because she was focused on getting control of the government for the Democrats? You're a legislator! Write up some legislation that addresses your qualms, don't sit there and do nothing because you have other matters on your mind. Oh, wait, wait...my fault. I didn't realize that her job - the Congress part - was to sit there and do nothing. Please, focus on getting your party back in power when national security issues are at stake.
If she was that upset about it, Pelosi should have taken a stand then, not now, when *oops* all of a sudden the details are coming out. Sounds like damage control to me. You know what though, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she wasn't explicitly told that waterboarding was being used during the 2002 briefing she attended. She surely knew, however, by the time her aide sent the letter to the CIA in 2003 questioning the use of waterboarding. "Pelosi herself acknowledged in a December 2007 statement that she was aware that Harman had learned of the waterboarding interrogations and had objected in a letter to the CIA's top counsel.
'It was my understanding at that time that Congresswoman Harman filed a letter in early 2003 to the CIA to protest the use of such techniques, a protest with which I concurred,' Pelosi said in the Dec. 9, 2007, statement." Pelosi is trying to tap dance her way out of the hot zone on a technicality, which may or may not be true. I would think that someone with such a lofty position in government would have more character than that. Oh, wait, my fault again...she's a liberal. What character?
Pelosi also called for a truth commission to "determine how intelligence was misused and how controversial and possibly illegal activities like torture were authorized within the executive branch." Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself. You can't go retroactive with the "torture" label. Back then waterboarding, etc. wasn't "torture." She just wants to punish anyone she can from the Bush administration because it's popular right now and she has to appease her wildly liberal base.
Now she's saying she wasn't briefed on the use of waterboarding at all. "'To the contrary ... we were told explicitly that waterboarding was not being used,' she told reporters, referring to a formal CIA briefing she received in the fall of 2002."
"CIA records show Pelosi attended only one briefing — the one in the fall of 2002 where she says she was told that waterboarding had not been used. A chart released by the CIA detailing its briefings for lawmakers is vague on what transpired at that session. It says Pelosi and the top Intelligence Committee Republican, then-Rep. Porter J. Goss of Florida, were given a 'description of the particular (enhanced interrogation techniques) that had been employed,' without further details.
As if being contradicted wasn't bad enough, she then turns her guns on the CIA and Republicans: "'They mislead us all the time,' she said. And when a reporter asked whether the agency had lied, Pelosi said yes.
She also suggested that the current Republican criticism marked an attempt to divert attention from the Bush administration's actions.
'They misrepresented every step of the way, and they don't want that focus on them, so they try to turn the attention on us,' she said.
Pelosi contended that Democrats did what they could to stop the use of waterboarding. The senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, who received the 2003 briefing on the practice, sent the CIA a formal letter of protest, she said.
But Pelosi defended her own lack of action on the issue, saying her focus at the time was on wresting congressional control from Republicans so her party could change course.
'No letter could change the policy. It was clear we had to change the leadership in Congress and in the White House. That was my job — the Congress part,' Pelosi said.
Let me get this straight; the CIA lied to her, Republicans lied to her, the President lied to her, and she didn't do anything about it because she was focused on getting control of the government for the Democrats? You're a legislator! Write up some legislation that addresses your qualms, don't sit there and do nothing because you have other matters on your mind. Oh, wait, wait...my fault. I didn't realize that her job - the Congress part - was to sit there and do nothing. Please, focus on getting your party back in power when national security issues are at stake.
If she was that upset about it, Pelosi should have taken a stand then, not now, when *oops* all of a sudden the details are coming out. Sounds like damage control to me. You know what though, I'll give her the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps she wasn't explicitly told that waterboarding was being used during the 2002 briefing she attended. She surely knew, however, by the time her aide sent the letter to the CIA in 2003 questioning the use of waterboarding. "Pelosi herself acknowledged in a December 2007 statement that she was aware that Harman had learned of the waterboarding interrogations and had objected in a letter to the CIA's top counsel.
'It was my understanding at that time that Congresswoman Harman filed a letter in early 2003 to the CIA to protest the use of such techniques, a protest with which I concurred,' Pelosi said in the Dec. 9, 2007, statement." Pelosi is trying to tap dance her way out of the hot zone on a technicality, which may or may not be true. I would think that someone with such a lofty position in government would have more character than that. Oh, wait, my fault again...she's a liberal. What character?
Pelosi also called for a truth commission to "determine how intelligence was misused and how controversial and possibly illegal activities like torture were authorized within the executive branch." Whoa, don't get ahead of yourself. You can't go retroactive with the "torture" label. Back then waterboarding, etc. wasn't "torture." She just wants to punish anyone she can from the Bush administration because it's popular right now and she has to appease her wildly liberal base.
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