Media Shocked - Shocked! - That Pelosi Criticizes The CIA

There's much to consider where Nancy Pelosi and past intelligence briefings on interrogation, detention, and torture are concerned. Lots. Especially after today! Plenty of observers, myself included, have found her attempt to navigate her way through a timeline of events to be wanting where satisfaction or clarity is concerned. I'd further suggest that if her central contention is going to be that she was legally barred from disclosing the contents of those briefings, that should provoke a whole new set of convserations: if a law prohibits a person from disclosing wrongdoing -- and violations of the Geneva Convention certainly fall into that category -- then that law is an ass, as they say.

That said, the media has decided on what their big takeaway of the day is, and frankly, it has focused on the most quotidian aspect of this controversy: that Nancy Pelosi is suggesting that the CIA has misled her. Dog bites man!

I've already watched a bunch of occasions in which our beloved dayside news anchors have stared, aghast, into the camera, and exclaimed, "Nancy Pelosi is taking on the CIA!" as if it were the most incredulous and surprising occurence to have ever happened. But this is hardly the first time the CIA has been accused of misleading. Heck, it happens all the damn time, really:

--John Boehner said today that, "I've dealt with our intelligence professionals for the last three-and-a-half years on an almost daily basis, and it's hard for me to imagine that our intelligence area would ever mislead a member of Congress." But when the topic was the December 2007 National Intelligence Estimate, Boehner sang a different tune: "Either I don't have confidence in what they told me several months ago or I don't have confidence in what they're telling me today." And on the February 11, 2007 edition of Meet The Press, Boehner said, "It's clear to all of us, Democrats and Republicans, that we have flawed intelligence. The CIA have bad intelligence, the Pentagon had bad intelligence and, for that matter, all of our allies around the world had the same bad intelligence. And so that's why Republicans voted to set up the National Intelligence Directorate to reform our intelligence activities."

--Here's Marcy Wheeler accusing the CIA of lying to ABC News a couple of times, and ABC not learning a lesson from it.

--In 2007, British intelligence officials accused the CIA of misleading them "over the arrest and treatment of terrorist suspects who were the subjects of rendition to Guantanamo Bay."

--Also in 2007, Federal prosecutors "said the CIA misled federal judges regarding the evidence against Zacarias Moussaoui."

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--In 2004, the CIA had to acknowledge that they "did not provide the United Nations with information about 21 of the 105 sites in Iraq singled out by American intelligence before the war as the most highly suspected of housing illicit weapons."

--In 2008, then ranking member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Pete Hoekstra -- who has Pelosi under fire today -- himself "called for a criminal investigation into whether the CIA lied to Congress and withheld information from the Justice Department during its inquiry into the 2001 shoot-down of an American missionary plane by the Peruvian air force with help from a CIA counternarcotics spotter plane."

--Heck, if you cast your mind back, waaay back, to the failed Bay of Pigs invasion, know what you'd find? People accusing the CIA of misleading! From Howard Jones' The Bay Of Pigs: "No one accepted blame for the failure at the Bay of Pigs. The Joint Chiefs insisted that the CIA misled them. The CIA countered that the military failed to execute a sound plan. The White House held both parties responsible, asserting that they did not provide the proper advice."

--And of course, the CIA famously destroyed some ninety-two videotapes that pertained specifically to the very detention and interrogation program that's at the center of this dispute, a move that truly exemplifies the agency's towering affection for honesty and openness!

So, look: let's not diminish the importance of uncovering all of Pelosi's what-did-she-know-and-when-did-she-know-its. But at the same time, let's not pretend that her accusal of the CIA is, in itself, some sort of eye-popping, unprecedented occurrence.

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Comments

[slpmom]

Nancy Pelosi's mistake was this: At the very beginning of this investigation, she should have re-framed the entire issue, by saying that 1) the meeting was top secret; 2) she was informed of whatever she was informed of just as a point of information; 3) she was not consulted about the policy & her advice was not solicited; 4)she was in no way able to "vote" for or against the Bush/Cheney/Justice Dept. cabal
Seriously -- she was not in any way "in on" making the torture policy, so WHAT IS HER CRIME????
Why is she being investigated? What? Like she could have put her foot down and stopped them?
Yeah, right. The Rethuglicans are just trying to distract us from their culpability. Sadly, she's letting them.

[mom792]

It's just flak sent out by the Cheney-funded bombers to distract ud from the Health Insurance passage.

[ladycubsfan]

She still wants a truth commission and most Republicans don't. So, who looks more guilty? I want an investigation on ALL of them and let the chips fall.

[rabiddog6708]

From madkane.com: The “We Did Nothing Wrong, & Nancy Should Have Stopped Us” Song
Republicans are truly gifted at changing the subject, and the media falls for it every time. Take CIA torture, for instance. Is the media focusing on who in the Bush administration broke the law and ordered torture? Of course not! Instead, the topic’s morphed into whether Nancy Pelosi is lying when she says the CIA misled Congress about torture.

Following Republican logic is never an easy task. But from what I can gather, here’s the Republican position: Bush’s CIA did nothing wrong, & Pelosi could have and should have stopped them.

In honor of the Republicans tortured position on torture, I’ve written them a theme song to the tune of Stephen Foster’s Camptown Races:

The CIA did nothing wrong.
Doo-da, Doo-da.
Pelosi knew and went along.
Oh, de doo-da day.

Torture is always right.
Torture can make our day.
And Nancy’s nothing but a lying nag.
She could have got in the way.

Interrogation must be tough.
Doo-da, Doo-da.
Pelosi knew we got too rough.
Oh, de doo-da day.

Never did break no laws.
Torture? Who, us? No way!
Pelosi’s nothing but a lying hag.
Nancy would lead you astray.

The CIA protects us all.
Doo-da, Doo-da.
It’s time Pelosi took the fall.
Oh, de doo-da day.

Torture was never done.
Torture is lots of fun.
And Nancy’s nothing but a lying nag.
Nancy Pelosi should pay.

[tdbach]

Bravo!

[zakwouldhave]

Boehner looks pathetic. Senator Graham kept incredible records on his daily schedule right down to waking up and who he met with and why. Boehner can't even keep his opinion of the CIA straight while his sites are on Pelosi just to make political hay. Ridiculous incompetence combined with borderline or outright war crimes is the legacy of the Republicans these days.
Ok, so Pelosi might not have her story straight but at least she is not naive enough to believe/state the CIA would never mislead. Bring on the Pelosi investigat­ion......y­a think Cheney would go for that? Rice?

[usawillprevail]

First of all:

Pelousi is NOT guilty of any crime
Pelousi is NOT guilty of treason

Pelousi IS guilty of lying and IS guilty of trying to cover up HER OWN mis-speaks.

When in doubt, blame everyone else so YOU dont have to be accountable for what comes out of your mouth. This is why she is having a problem.

[dashboard]

As a country we all have been water boarded. We let the events of 9-11 take us away from true American values. We grabbed our pitchforks and torches and said to he!! with the constitution. Now the bill is coming due. We need only look in the mirror for seeds we have sown, through our political leaders and the people and agencies they directed.

[Loompa]

Pelosi didn't criticize the CIA, she merely lied about what they told her.

[DRicha8374]

Where is your proof she lied, oh you are the judge and jury. You have tried and found her guilty, huh!

[eliasboudit]

omg dricha you are just another obamabot! ool

[Booblius]

Leon Panetta wrote a memo to his agency personnel. He should have taken his own advice. In the memo he said, "There is a long tradition in Washington of making political hay out of our business. It predates my service with this greaat institution, and it will be around long after I'm gone."

To which, I imagine agency veterans replied in their heads, "DUH". The problem with Leon is although he is a very smart politician, he is a dumb secret warrior. His flaw is hubiris. He was not elected CIA director. He was appointed to SERVE. He is the wrong guy to head the CIA. He should never have injected himself into Congressional politics. That was his old position, not the new one. His actions were more stupid than the guy that got fired for authorizing Air Force One to make a low flight over NYC.

[Loompa]

Good on ya, Leon, for standing up to Pelosi's lies about the CIA! Well done!

[tundramonkey]

There is a much longer tradition of the CIA owning the press and using it to achieve its own ends, independent of the executive it allegedly serves or the national interest. Try Operation Mockingbird first. MK Ultra is a fun one. Trading drugs for money for weapons to be sold to Iran was another great move. Importing cocaine and creating crack was another winner. The CIA is a gang of murderers and thugs and this nation has no dignity or honor. It has always been a nation of greedy murderers, thugs, and sadists. Once we accept that fact the outcome of all of these issues will be clearer.

[busterbrownthefirst]

This is a non-story squared. First, of course the CIA misled. Second, who cares what the media thinks? The reason it's worth commenting on is that the AD&D media is detracting attention from the issues of torture, morality, and our national integrity.

The media is being confused by Republicans who shift the torture-story emphasis away from the Bush administration to Pelosi. Look how much coverage the media has given to that nitwit Newt talking about how Pelosi must be investigated. Considering that we are barely investigating the Bush administration, and that the White House has gone to considerable trouble to ignore the entire issue and not investigate or prosecute anything, you have to wonder if Gingrich has even a double-digit IQ. Why is he bringing attention to something our spineless Democrats are avoiding? Someone ought to tell him that if Pelosi is tarnished, things will be worse for Bush, Cheney, Rumsfield, Rove, and the rest of our neighborhood war criminal gang.

But further, what's the point of anything with Pelosi? If Pelosi knew about torture, was she, representing the then-minority Democratic party in the House, going to have any influence whatsoever?

The media needs its ducks sorted out. One story is big, and that's what Bush and Cheney did. That's the story it keeps messing up. One story is small, and that's what Pelosi knew. And the last story, which is what the media thinks, is nonexistent.

[Spud777]

I will not defend Pelosi, she failed in her job, especially not impeaching Bush and Cheney (you can add Harry Reid to this list also), but I will also state that the MSM sucks. They are image driven and full of themselves.

[Know-some-secrets]

If Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House and second in line to the presidency failed, she should be gone. Why in the private and public sectors are we not holding leaders to account for FAILURE?

[loganhunter]

Exactly how was Pelosi supposed to get Bush impeached with a Republican majority throughout 6 of the past 8 years and then without any Republican support?

[grf67]

Why is anybody even surprised? This is an agency that tries to deceive the entire world about what it is actually doing. This is an agency that conducts covert operations throughout the world and says nothing to anyone. This is an agency that supported the activities of the bush administration which we all know were illegal. Of course they lie; that is what they do.

[jordan3189]

Wow, If they deceive everyone, how do you know all this stuff.

[gaiangreentree]

Because they keep getting caught in their lies. Deceiving everyone doesn't mean that the truth stays hidden. With all of the damage that we have caused that has been disclosed through either scandal or the freedom of information act... why does anyone still believe that there is a valid reason for any clandestine agency?

[BigHound1]

They can't put this pandora back into the box!!!!

The question is "When did you start believing what the CIA said and what did they say that you actually believed?" Was it yellow cake? No, I don't believe they tried to sell that one. Was it slammed dunk? Well, we kind of believed that one. Was it WMDs that could warn us through a visible mushroom cloud? Nah, they didn't really do that.

Now, given all that has been said over the past eight years, who can you believe? At least Speaker Pelosi have never stated that we will be greeted as liberators!!!! The noise-makers have all suggested WMDs, greeted as liberators, slam dunks, yadda, yadda, yadda.... My bet's on Pelosi for now.

[citizensrus]

Why is the media shocked. This is my criticism of the job they do in investigative reporting. Okay, they didn't find their story before Pelosi spoke out...but it was there,if they had done their homework.
They have their story now...why don't they track this one down and come up with the gritty details. That's the JOY of Journalism. Journalism is like untangling a mystery, discovering gold, an archeological dig, being a detective. Today...it seems journalism is just regurgitating the propaganda or elaborating on a false lead that some other network managed to get first.
We could have avoided a war if the journalists had taken pride in their vocation. And it is a vocation..­if it isn't, then you are just a mouthpiece.

[busterbrownthefirst]

What an excellent point. Coverage of 9/11 and the subsequent WMD fiasco wasn't exactly brought to new depths of understanding by extra information from Deep Throat.

I remember in the early days of the WMD reporting that I was watching some story, probably on CNN, about how these four hollow metal tubes found in Iraq were canisters for WMDs. Crap, even I could tell that evidence was staged, and I was thousands of miles away and had no more credentials than being a news junkie. We had a lot of crap pushed down our throats, and the media did nothing but buy straight into the garbage that was fed them.

I would certainly not put the blame for not stopping the war entirely on the media, however. Most congresspeople were swept along by what they felt confident was a ratings booster, and voted for the war without any heaving thinking either. The number of Democrats who checked the polling and then voted with Bush was shocking and cynical in the extreme.

And that brings us to the last issue. As John Q. Publics, we should all be quite vocal in criticizing the media for its incomplete, reactionary, and sound-bite-based reporting. Which reminds me to say: Keith Olberman, Bill O'Reilley, and the rest of you clown who consider yourselves media "personalities," stop reporting on yourselves. You're incredibly boring. I want to hear some investigative journalism for a change.

[realpolitic]

This whole incident shows how much the media is influenced by Republican spin. First, the conservatives say the Bush administration did not torture and torture works anyway. So basically they say the Bush administration did nothing wrong. Then they say Nancy Pelosi is horrible and perhaps should be prosecuted for not doing more to stop what the Bush administration was doing! Which is it?

Then the Bushies lied us into war and blamed the CIA for providing lousy intelligence, even after the Bushies manipulated and cherrypicked it. Now Republicans say how can Pelosi accuse the CIA of misinforming her? Again, which is it?

I really do not care what Pelosi knew and when she knew it! It was the Bush administration's policy to torture prisoners and hold them in indefinite confinement. It was their policy to get a bunch of lackey lawyers to condone their illegalities with bogus memos. Prosecute the Bushies and if conservatives want to later prosecute Pelosi, we can see about that too! First prosecute Rove, Cheney, and the Bushies!

[yasmeen]

it's not that the media is influenced by republican spin. it's that they're stupid people who sell sensationalist headlines like tabloids. it's all they care about. focusing on the mediocore. any real analysis like the above article is only found online. pity.

[corwin]

A lot of inane comments.I­'m a derm,not a psychiatri­s.I'll ask my shrink-o brother to read some of this and see if it qualifies as denial .Or only cognitive dissonance. I'll go slowly.Mos­t of you were Liberal Arts majors.
The SOH has given 4 separate stories about what she knew about water boarding and "EIT".
Not only are there notes about the meetings,but there were other participan­ts.It's not credible they will lie to protect her on what happened.
If you noticed WH Press sec'y said he wanted to 'Look ahead' and refused to answer questions about whether the WH thought CIA lied to MS Pelosi.The­y won't be allowed to continue a ,"NO comment" policy.
Thus the WH either accuses the CIA of lieing-with corrorating documents and witnesses against the Speaker-an act of political suicide so breathtaking I can't even comprehend it. Or they vouch for the CIA,destroying the Speaker.
See? It's not so tough.You guys could have passed calculus.(­Well,maybe not.)