Another Democrat Says CIA Records On Briefings Were Not Accurate

Yet another Democrat in Congress is alleging that the CIA included incorrect information in its records about past congressional briefings on interrogation policies.

Rep. David Obey sent a letter to CIA Director Leon Panetta on Tuesday saying that "in light of current controversy about CIA briefing practices," he was "surprised to learn that the agency erroneously listed an appropriations staffer as being in a key briefing on September 19, 2006, when in fact he was not."

Writes the Wisconsin Democrat: "The list the agency released entitled 'Member Briefings on Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs)', shows that House Appropriations Committee defense appropriations staffer Paul Juola was in that briefing on that date. In fact, Mr. Juola recollects that he walked members to the briefing room, met General Hayden and Mr. Walker, who were the briefers, and was told that he could not attend the briefing. We request that you immediately correct this record."

The letter makes Obey the fourth Democrat to allege that the CIA's record of which members of Congress were briefed on the Bush administration's enhanced interrogation techniques contained factual errors. Former Sen. Bob Graham, in an interview with the Huffington Post, noted that the agency's records initially had him being briefed four times in 2002 about the interrogation techniques. Upon contacting officials with the CIA, it was determined that he had only attended one such briefing. Similarly, Sen. Jay Rockefeller has said that the records kept by the agency and made public on May 7 contained errors in regards to his briefings.

All told, the testimonies of these three Democratic officials bolster the case made by Speaker Nancy Pelosi that the agency's own account of those now-controversial briefings is misleading. Pelosi -- like Graham -- has insisted that members of Congress were kept in the dark in the fall of 2002 about the Bush administration's use of waterboarding on terrorist suspects.

Critics of the Speaker have chastised her for claiming that the agency would mislead members of Congress, with some conservative voices even calling for her resignation. Similar complaints have not been leveled at Rockefeller or Graham, so it will be curious and telling to watch the reaction that Obey's letter engenders.

Panetta Letter 5-18-09 -

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Comments

[ReealOne]

Why are the Dems allowing the GO-NOPERs, who are EXTREMELY poor and sore losers, dispurtive, distructive, divisive, obstructive, hate and fear mongering, grab ahold of something like this and allow them to use it to try to smear the Dems. Then they step in, after all the damage has bween done, to "denounce" the GO-NOPER practices, but ONLY after they've given the GO-NOPERs time to spread their propapaganda. The is shoddy at best. In the meantime, the GO-NOPERs are running over them like a drunken train conductor. The Dems need to realize that silence IS NOT golden, no matter which way you spin it.

Dems have to wake up and understand the reason we voted them into power majority, was so that they could take care of business, and finally get BOLD things done in Washington for ALL Americans, and not be cowards (as the GO-NOPERs have painted them). The Dems need to understand that they have an absolute obligation to defend their policies and agenda... just as fiercely as the GO-NOPERs are doing their own.

If the Dems can't do that, then we need to vote the weakest links out of there, and NO ONE IS EXCLUDED. ENOUGH of this foolishness of "playing" politics, that affects our lives.

[jsanti7]

Its said you a person is only as sick as their darkest secret ..and its coming to light that many on both sides have secrets. So it is up to the people to say enough of these sick government officials and vote all of them out of office we need a clean slate not a new constitution only people who will really take there oath seriously this episode makes them all look like ass covering power seeking phonies that need to be voted out wish there was mandatory a vote of confidence / no confidence attached to the presidential election a vote for all the branches of government legislative executive and judicial a vote of no confidence requires all incumbents to be disqualified for reelection ...OK ..OK just venting a bit on this incompetence of our government

[American50]

heck Distraction is all libs know

[American50]

He is owned by Mrs Pelosi

[jabadu01]

crap, and You know it, especjaly Mr.Obay. I watch him talking and He is pretty much independent mind.

[rainjustice]

As a proud bleeding-heart-liberal I am not blind to Pelosi's problems.
To me the REAL problem is that she handled the press conference and her statement with the poise and professionalism of a first time PTA "leader".
She was so embarrassingly unprepared and rattled by the occasion, that I feel she should consider stepping down. I know I would in this situation.
rainjustice.com

[jabadu01]

I agree, that She didnt defend Her self properly, but at the same time, She said the truth, and She (as most Democrats) didnt know all about torture. At the same time, She was not a Speaker , She was just Congeresswoman . Republicans were keeping Democrats for at list 8 years form any real facts and especjaly about torture. This breefing was in 2002, and the real facts came to light in 2006, so blaming Pelosi for is idiotic ! Cheney said that they were torturing peopel woterboarding(?) just about meybe year ego, so why now blaming Pelosi and not Cheney or ex President and SoS Rumsfield???

[2008FedUP]

Never seen any one "proud" to bleed. Why punk out and step down in everything in life. So what now we have 2 lies to thier 10,000,000,000599,872,894,952,000,000,000,002,389.

[research]

Distraction.

BushCo are the war criminals.

[TheSystemWorks]

You claim the Speaker of the House calling the head of the nation's first line of defense against terrorism a liar "a distraction"?!?

Ignoring this would result in massive disrespect of Panetta by the very operatives we must depend to keep the nation safe.

This public civil war between these two high-ranking officials must be ended. It wont end by itself and ignoring it, as you suggest, should disqualify the Democratic party as irresponsible when it comes to national security. (As if enough evidence to that effect were not abundant).

Pelosi must go.

[jabadu01]

She is not going anywere, She is not responsible for anything that She is accuse of. Just get facts starait., and stop lying!

[Ankhorite]

Do some fact-checking.

Pelosi didn't call Panetta a liar. She said the CIA lied to her, back in the Bush days. BEFORE he was appointed director.

Panetta didn't call her a liar. He said it's not official agency POLICY to lie. He didn't say that the policy was obeyed during the Bush-Cheney years. He DID he could give her the records which were created before he got there, and then leave it “up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened.”" Google that phrase.

Panetta knows the CIA records pretending she was briefed aren't accurate. And Pelosi knows that's not Panetta's fault. Four more people who were allegedly briefed have come forward with their work diaries showing that their records don't match the CIA's records, either. And the CIA's own records are full of vague claims like "no first name known" -- for someone supposedly being given top-secret briefings!

Pelosi has called for all the records to be made public. It won't hurt Panetta because the error-filled CIA records are from the Bush and Cheney era, lying about WMD and everything else to keep us in an illegal war between oil barons.

Pelosi must go? The only place she's going is down in history as one of the heroes pf this war, dragging Dubya's dirty tricks out into the light so we can reclaim our country and try to get clean of his Administration's crimes.

[slpmom]

You're correct. The whole mess about Pelosi is just to take the focus off the war crimes of Bush/Cheney/Justice Dept. Nancy Pelosi should have re-framed the entire attempt from the very beginning:
1. She was told what ever she was told in an advisory capacity
2. No one solicited her advice or her approval - shoot, they wouldn't even listen to dissenting White House insiders!!!!!
3. What ever they did tell her was TOP SECRET --- what was she supposed to do about it? She couldn't take it to the House of Reps. & ask for resolutions or legislation
If she had taken this position at the beginning, this would all be over. You are absolutely correct -- this is nothing but distraction ... and the Bush/Cheney/Justice Dept. war criminals are getting away with it

[swo68]

This "distraction" is a direct result of the dem's actions.

[jabadu01]

Absolutely, they just want to blame anyone but themselfs!!!

[WHTrout]

Everyone on the right seems just shocked -- SHOCKED! they say -- that someone would accuse the CIA of misleading Congress.
It's no wonder Gore Vidal refers to this country as the United States of Amnesia! Remember --
All through the 1950s, the CIA lied to Congress about their covert activies in South Korea and South America.
All through the 1960s, the CIA lied to Congress about their covert attempts to assassinate Castro and other heads of state in South America and Southeast Asia.
All through the 1970s, the CIA lied to Congress about their involvement with the Shah of Iran and Nixon-ordered domestic spying.
In the 1980s, the CIA lied to Congress about Iran-Contra and supporting Noriega.
In the 1990s, the CIA lied to Congress about the "black sites" and "extraordinary renditions" that were going on.
And so, of course the Bush-run CIA lied to Congress about Bush/Cheney torture orders or an Iraq/al-Qaeda link or who got briefed on what....
The CIA has a long, documented history of lying the Congress. You think they stopped under Bush??

[END-THE-SPIN]

Seems the spin, such as this article and other articles and commentary, is doing its job. It is keeping the people from recognizing the fact that this CIA breifing mess was in violation of the laws of the United States of America. That what was being dicussed was in violation of both U.S. and International laws and treaties.

There has been criticism of the Speaker for not speaking out about these breifings at the time. Pelosi and the others were sworn to secrecy and they kept these briefings secret, but that is not the point--that's spin--the breifings should never have been allowed to take place, and that is what Pelosi and others should have protested at the time.

Federal law requires the president and the CIA to inform the relevant committees on covert actions. The House and Senate Intelligence Committees were not kept informed. The committees were purposely and illegally kept in the dark, in violation of the law.

Pelosi, Rockefeller and the six others saw themselves, like Bush-Cheney, as being above the law. There is no provision in our laws of governance for the creation of a "gang of eight" or a gang of any number to subsitute for the representation guaranteed the American people under our Constitution and duly enacted laws. That promise, that guarantee was broken.

I believe the members of gang should resign for their failure to uphold the Constitution and the laws of this land.

http://end-the-spin.blogspot.com/

[freethinkergirl]

You are correct, not just one member should be called on the carpet, all committee members are equally accountable. That is probably why we have not heard from the Republican committee members, they are happy with the way the attention has been focused on Pelosi.

Reality is, attention should be on the whole "gang of eight", unfortunately that takes away the rightwing's "ev!l" one, whom their having a great time skewer!ng.

[END-THE-SPIN]

Last line of the one paragraph should have read:

That what was being dicussed was in violation of both U.S. and International laws and treaties is secondary to this fact.

[jabadu01]

Finally some comments with sense. Than You!

[BlakeforRichardson]

Some of you posters are hilarious.


First she said she knew nothing about the torture of Abu Zubaydah. Then she said she was told the CIA might waterboard, but they hadn't done it yet. Then she said her aide had been briefed, but that he hadn't briefed her on the briefing. Then she said the CIA had "misled" her.


Who's misleading whom, here?

[freethinkergirl]

Bush & Co (including CIA) have been misleading this country and still are to date. Pelosi is irrelivant as a pawn of the righwing to deflect attention off own their cr!m!nal action. You obviously do not read the articles nor the comments very well, or just don't understand them, that makes you the "hilarious" one, by just repeating the same Repugn@nt talking points.

Republican Rep. Hoekstra accuses CIA of cover-up, Nov 2008

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/11/20/cia.coverup.char...

Reagan's Reagan's DOJ Pr0secuted Texas Sheriff for Waterb0arding Prisoners "Federal pr0secutors secured a 10-year sentence against the sheriff and four years in prison for the deputies. But that 1983 case -- which would seem to be directly on point for a legal analysis on waterb0arding two decades later -- was never mentioned in the four Bush administration opinions released last week."

[jabadu01]

Live Pelosi alone and go after those real criminalists, and use You common sense.

[JJeff88]

This "back & forth" should be viewed as a golden opportunity by Democrats and other friends of good government who seek justice for war crimes which, if unaddressed, would then, in part, become the responsibility of you and me (because,as part of a country and a democracy, we stood idly by).

For a new administration to be reluctant to act vindictively against a previous administration (in consideration of subtle constitutional nuances having to do with the peaceful transition of power) is understandable.

But the Pelosi-Panetta, Gingrich, Boehnert war of words gives the Obama administration an "out." All the President has to do is to stay above the fray and pay lip-service to an unwillingness to exact retribution - while letting nature take its course in the form of a thorough investigation of Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld torture policies and who was complicit up and down the political food chain.

So I say "Go at it!" Investigate fully. (Not to do so would be to hang a heavy albatross around the necks of those hoping to get anything positive done in the future).

And we should thank the folks who set things in motion to allow this process to move forward - namely Cheney, Gingrich, Boehnert and Panetta.

[den1953]

Drip Drip Drip Bush will go down as the worst president in American history only time will tell!

[jnickj6]

But then he will be #1 at something!

[arcticterrier]

give Obama time...he's only had 120 days as you libs are fond of saying when it comes to shifting any blame or fault. give Obama time and he'll be right down there with Harding, Pierce, and Carter...and all in just one term.

[cornelison]

Just the facts. Premature finger pointing will eventually backfire on the GOP & others who use Pelosi as a scapegoat.

[kathy001]

I think so, too. I sure hope we are correct.

[jayy44]

you really think she didnt know? why so many revised statements? she knew. she let it go and is no getting called on it.

[Brinna]

Who cares if she knew or not. Let's have a full investigation! Let those on top who instigated the torture go down, and if they take others along the way (including those who, should it turn out that way, knew about it, and did nothing) so be it. But let's not lose sight of just WHO instigated it.

[jabadu01]

that is exactly what they are doing, but finally we have the real pweople wo were in the same room with the rest af breefing about torture. Pelosi was just a congresswoman then(2002) and none of Democrats got the real picture what was going in Guantanamo or oyher places at that time and untill 2006. As I dont like Pelosi, I am defending Her, after listen to those whio were with Her in same room ate breefing!!!

[mervr1]

Lets put something into perspective and that is that pretty much everything the Bush Administration said was a lie and pretty much most of the people involved as being appointed the head of a department or organization would say and do whatever the administration wanted...thus they were also liars.

Anyone need examples...there's plenty of facts out there to disprove the Bush administration.

So why does anyone believe that the CIA is telling the truth about these briefings. Their job is misinformation and misdirection.

There's an old saying...What doesn't come out in the wash will come out in the rinse.

[wishfor]

The job of the CIA is to dissemble. The job of the Speaker is to set the record straight. In my opinion. I am most disappointed in Leon Panetta. I always thought of him as a straight arrow but he wasn't even in the CIA in 2002 so he is just a mouthpiece.
Nancy Pelosi is just simply not a good speaker (small "s"). Maybe she does her job politically but she cannot speak clearly and forcefully to the public. Somebody please give her some lessons!

[Wood-Harp]

Again, the CIA submitted records which did not reflect reality. Again, the timing of their submission coincidentally helped both them and the previous administration. Again, the media continued to divert people’s attention away from the primary sources and culprits of the main issue. Again, a threatening propaganda campaign revealed itself: “If you come after us on this, we are going to come after you. We may even Lie - on a grand scale. Understood?” Again, beyond certain collusive successes, we are able to see how it all works - and why the Truth is (in many places/areas) constantly suppressed/attacked.