Article Entry
18 May 2009
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Monday Morning News Kick Off: Pelosi Quiet This Weekend, Not Her Critics and What Really Went Down?
Added by USGIF Category: Daily Intelligence Brief
Welcome to the Monday Morning News Kick Off only on got geoint? While there was plenty of news happening over the weekend, the big story that kept rising to top the was Nancy Pelosi and her tussle with the intelligence community. We opted to pull together a number stories on this topic, and asked our readers to weigh in with an opinion. Scroll down to learn more about how she was conspicuously absent from the talk show circuit this weekend, and, wow, her critics came out guns-a-blazing. Happy Monday!
Where In The World is Nancy Pelosi?
Conspicuously absent from the weekend talk show circuit was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In what is the biggest story involving the intelligence community, Speaker Pelosi has gotten herself involved in a dust up regarding what she knew about Bush era interrogation tactics, and also did some heavy finger pointing at the C.I.A. Lots of drama and fall out. Speaking of fall out, CNN’s John King pulled together these quotes from Pelosi’s critics:
“Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime. And if the speaker is accusing the CIA and other intelligence officials of lying or misleading the Congress, then she should come forward with evidence and turn that over to the Justice Department so they can be prosecuted. And if that’s not the case, I think she ought to apologize to our intelligence professionals around the world.” — House Minority Leader John Boehner on CNN’s “State of the Union
“I think the reality here is that Nancy Pelosi has stepped in it big time. And she is now put the Democratic Party in a position, where the question for me is, does the president support Nancy Pelosi’s versions of what happened, or his CIA director’s versions of what happened.” — Republican National Committee Chair Michael Steele on NBC’s “Meet the Press”
What do you all think about this?
Forty-Three Percent of Americans Think C.I.A. Misled Pelosi
Speaking of Nancy Pelosi, a telephone survey by the Rasmussen Reports found that forty-three percent (43%) of voters nationwide say that it’s at least somewhat likely that the Central Intelligence Agency misled Nancy Pelosi about the use of waterboarding when interrogating prisoners. Mind you the report found that 20 percent found it very likely that the C.I.A. misled Pelosi. So, the 43 percent number seems a bit vague…somewhat likely? What does that mean?
Democrats Keep Their Faith in Pelosi
In light of the drama going down between Pelosi and the intelligence community, many Democtrats are standing behind her. For example, Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine said he still has faith in U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and said that Pelosi’s job is secure. Here’s the million-dollar question: didn’t we all know about these interrogation techniques?? Seriously. The Bush administration did not hide the fact that they were doing this…that’s all we are going to say. We want to hear from our readers in the intelligence community on this one!
Alright, as we have said before we have not offered an opinion piece on the interrogation issue. That said, we really want to hear from our readers on this one. It seems like a case of “he said, she said,” which often happens in politics. We would like to know what really went down? Did Pelosi REALLY not know about these interrogation techniques? Is Panetta being a good boss by defending the agency? We welcome your thoughts on this!!
Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, CIA, CIA Misled Pelosi, House Minority Leader John Boehner, Intelligence Community, Interrogaton, Nancy Pelosi
From Linked-In:
I think the more important issue is that the only way to truly answer your question is to conduct an investigation into exactly how this program came into existence, who authorized it, who executed it and what their rationale for doing so was. As a retired Army lieutenant colonel, I find it shameful that we would say, as many South American countries did after toppling dictators, “let the past remain in the past.” That sends a very disturbing signal to despots and soldiers alike that regardless of what you do, there’s a chance you could get away with it scott-free. In turn, that puts our servicemembers in potentially greater harm, and it does nothing to ensure that the calibre of any intelligence gained through these methods is of any value. So the issue should be not did Nancy Pelosi know – but who came up with this plan to begin with, why, what they they think this would accomplish and why? If we follow the arguments that no one should be held accountable because everyone was simply following orders and it was deemed “legal” by John Yoo, Dick Cheney and others, then why did we prosecute and kill Germans for similar behavior after World War II? After all, were they not all presumably following Hitler’s “legal orders?” No government, in particular one hailed as a beacon of liberty, can endure if it fails to face up to and be accountable for critical errors of judgement as egregious as this.
From Linked-In:
Only a fool would believe she didn’t.
From Linked-In:
Of course she knew! The way it appears; either she is not competent with full understanding for which she was briefed, or she is lying altogether. Therefore, ether option would be a reason to remove her from such an office in which we as Americans assume we have a good voice coupled with level headed reasoning at that level. My next thought would be, what is the Obama administration going to do about it?
From Linked-In:
Panetta is being a good boss, no doubt, but to say that the CIA has not intentionally misled Congress is just as phony as Pelosi’s claims. Fact of the matter is we stand with outrage when discovered, but secretly wish for the success of certain “off the books” practices.
What is good for the goose is good for the gander, if we have tried, or attempted to try leaders from other countries for the same crimes then we should be willing to try every and all that had anything to do with this mess.
From Linked-In:
It’s one of two things. Pelosi, being the ranking minority member of the committee had an obligation to know what was going on. Panetta, a member of her own party is stating what can be backed up by the minutes of the meetings. So, she either neglected her obligation, or she is lying. Either way, she needs to go. Certainly as Speaker, but also very likely as a member of The House of Representatives. She is the most duplicitous and politically divisive individual to hold the position of Speaker in my memory.
From Linked-In:
Great comment. Of course, we all knew what was going on with the CIA and other intelligence agencies. The news channels carried stories about it; Hollywood has made movies about it; and organizations like the ACLU and the Center for Constitutional Rights have been fighting against it from the beginning.
That having been said, Pelosi made an enormous tactical blunder by accusing the CIA of lying to Congress. Where does she go from here? If it is true, and Congress does nothing about it (i.e., nobody’s head goes on the chopping block), then the Democratic Congress look like a bunch of spineless crybabies (again). If they do something about it, they may be damaging national security by cutting the legs out from under the intelligence community. She has painted herself into a corner.
To your second question, as an outsider Panetta took advantage of the opportunity to stand up for his people…something that a good leader has to do in order to gain credibility with his organization. Unfortunately, Panetta has pitted the agency against the Speaker of the House now, which may prove counterproductive if Pelosi emerges from this incident unscathed and decides to bear a grudge.
From Linked-In:
I’m very thankful Director Panetta defended his agency, and by extension so did Obama. If the boss doesn’t have the back of his workers, the workers stop working. On the issue of Queen Pelosi, what she knew and when she knew it: Rearrange four letters in her last name and drop the other two and you have LIES. I’m a Bay Area native and don’t have much of anything positive to say about 99% of our elected officials, locally, in Sacramento and in DC. It’s time they all got booted out of office.
From Linked-In:
I heard an interesting commentary on this during my commute today. They, the CIA, and Pelosi are BOTH telling the truth. The commentator, a former congressman, stated that many gov agencies, not just the CIA, brief in Government Speak, and that perhaps Pelosi heard but did not interpret the information in the way the briefer intended. A fair assessment of many briefings that I have sat through.
From Linked-In:
Sometimes in the process of tryng to trip up your opposition, you show your true colors. I do not believe she cares one way or the other about interrogation methods. She will just push the agenda that she beleives will benefit her power grab.