Pelosi vs. the CIA

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Joel

I’m sure I’ve written something on this before… but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to mention, yet again, the unbelievable audacity of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. This from The Corner:

According to the IG report, the agency briefed the Congressional Intelligence Oversight Committees — that includes Speaker Pelosi — in the fall of 2002, as well as in February and March of 2003, and continued to do so thereafter. The IG report states that none of the congressional participants — that includes Speaker Pelosi — expressed any concerns about the EITs or the program itself. Unless were resigned to the premise that its routine for the Speaker of the House to lie to the American people about matters of national security, this is pretty serious stuff. CIA interrogators are facing the prospect of financially ruinous legal fees while a special prosecutor investigates their actions. Eric Holder may prosecute these individuals [i.e. CIA officers] for taking actions that members of congress — that includes Speaker Pelosi — not only knew about, but that didnt concern them.

The piece finishes with this ‘O’ so prescient question:

If the EITs didnt bother members of congress then, why are they a problem now? Will any reporter call Pelosi on this?

wait… she WAS briefed!? disbelief

Posted on May 7, 2009 by Joel

Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi D-Calif. was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.

In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss R-Fla. were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics. Then the ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, respectively, Pelosi and Goss were briefed Sept. 4, 2002, one week before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

via CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of ‘Enhanced Interrogations’ – Capitol Briefing.

so… the lesson here is that anything plausibly deniable is at least potential political amunition for Nancy Pelosi to destroy her political enemies. If she has to lie, so be it.

You’re a raw deal…

Posted on April 3, 2008 by Joel

Most things in Washington don’t really surprise me these days. We’ve been arguing about the same handful of issues now for decades now… and the lines are pretty clearly drawn. However, sometimes the standards of decency are so ignored… lowered to a point of being immeasurable that it causes one’s jaw to drop. Such was the case yesterday with the statements and actions of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California). She has decended so low, she has fallen off the gutter and into the sewer. I cannot think of a more damaging blow to the office of the Speaker then the one Ms. Pelosi has inflicted with her unvarnished scorn directed at Gen. David Petraeus.

This from the Politico:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) warned Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker on Thursday “not to put a shine on recent events” in Iraq when they testify before Congress next week.

“I hope we don’t hear any glorification of what happened in Basra,” said Pelosi, referring to a recent military offensive against Shiite militants in the city led by the Iraqi government and supported by U.S. forces.

The Democrats hammered two themes: The war in Iraq has stretched the military dangerously thin, and the enormous cost of the war is threatening the health of the U.S. economy.

Underscoring the Democrats’ economic points, Pelosi asked why U.S. military in Iraq and Americans back home are paying more for gasoline than the Iraqis are.

“Our troops in Iraq are paying about $3.25 a gallon for gas in Iraq, comparable to what we pay here, while the Iraqis are paying $1.36 a gallon,” Pelosi said. “This is a raw deal for the American taxpayer.”

Let me get you straight here, Mrs. Pelosi… Gen. Petraeus better not “put a shine” on Iraq… OR ELSE WHAT??? or else your gonna lecture him from behind the safety of your title and elevated podium? Spare me. How dare you threaten the commander of our armed forces to limit himself to the message YOU obviously don’t want the American people to hear. And why, may I ask, might this be? What, may I ask would be SO TERRIBLE about the members of congress and the American People hearing good news from Iraq… the success of the joint coalition force in Basra? Is it not clear to anyone listening to you that the crux of your credibility (what little you have) rests on the failure of the American mission in Iraq?

The fact that you demand a report that matches your preconceived notions of the facts shows that you have no interest in his opinion anyway and are content to believe the academic assumptions of your favorite editorialists writing from behind some Manhattan cubicle instead of the the eye-witness accounts of the person responsible for dramatic changes on the ground. You’d probably be better off not even showing up given that it’s just going to be a waste of your time.

Oh, And one more thing. The best concern you can muster in fear of the upcoming the Patreus report is the fact that Iraqis are paying $1.36 a gallon for gas compared to the U.S. price of $3.25? Great… insincere concern from a Representative who has done NOTHING in her 3 years as Speaker to lower gas prices one penny. They DRILL for it, Mrs. Pelosi… It’s that simple. You hypocrite! You put every hurdle possible in front of oil exploration and drilling and then have the audacity to whine about how those who ARE drilling for it are getting better prices. Just go back to California already. You have singlehandedly energized more Republicans to vote in this election then McCain ever could.