Pelosi The Enabler

Nancy Pelosi is no Dick Cheney, nor a George W. Bush. She was neither the author of a systematic policy of torture nor has she been, like Cheney and most top Republicans in Congress, an enduring apologist for its practice. It is a nonsensical distraction to place her failure to speak out courageously as a critic of the Bush policies on the same level as those who engineered one of the most shameful debacles in U.S. history.

But what she, and anyone else who went along with this evil, as lackadaisically as she now claims, should be confronted with are the serious implications of their passive acquiescence. Why did she not speak up, or if it were a matter of a lack of reliable information, demand an accounting from the executive branch, as befits a leader of the loyal opposition in Congress?

If the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and later House Democratic leader, lacked the authority to publicly question a policy of torture, then how can we condemn, indeed imprison, ordinary soldiers who thought it their duty to follow orders?

Even though Abu Zubaydah had been waterboarded 83 times before the September 2002 briefing of Pelosi, she now claims she was told only that the practice might be used and that it had been approved by the Bush Justice Department as legal. Wasn't that approval in itself sufficiently alarming to justify a strong and public dissent? Certainly that would have been the appropriate response when Pelosi aide Michael Sheehy, along with Rep. Jane Harman, D-Calif., were informed by the CIA in no uncertain terms five months later that Zubaydah had been subjected to specific "enhanced" methods including waterboarding. Pelosi admits to possessing that information, but according to one of her aides quoted in Politico, after Harman's letter questioning the practice received "no response" from the CIA, "there was nothing more that could be done."

Why not? Does the CIA or the White House that directs its activities stand above the law without any congressional restraint, as mandated by the U. S. Constitution that Pelosi has sworn to uphold?

Should the members of the 9/11 Presidential Commission not have been informed that two of the "key witnesses" upon whom their report was based had provided the information critical to the report's conclusions only after being waterboarded a total of 266 times? On Page 146 of that report, there appears a boxed disclaimer that even the commissioners, possessed of high security clearances, were not allowed to meet, let alone cross-examine, the witnesses or even talk with those who did the interrogations.

As the presidential commissioners conceded in their report, "We submitted questions for use in the interrogations, but had no control over whether, when or how questions of particular interest would be asked. Nor were we allowed to talk to the interrogators so that we could better judge the credibility of the detainees and clarify ambiguities in the reporting."

In short, the basic narrative of the origins and conduct of the 9/11 attack that so fundamentally perverted American politics relied on cherry-picked information that the White House and its operative in the field chose to release to the commission. As a result, we the public still know nothing of certainty about the financing of the terrorist organization emanating from Saudi Arabia and the UAE or the logistical support supplied to the Taliban and al-Qaida by agencies of the government of Pakistan.

What the public was offered was not an unvarnished look at the available evidence concerning the attack but rather a fear campaign justifying an undifferentiated and illogically constructed international war on terror. As Steve Elmendorf, chief of staff to Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., the Democratic leader following 9/11, put it: "You have to remember, in the 2002 period, the whole atmospherics, it was all about scaring people every day."

That fear-mongering drove a majority of Democrats to support the president in his invasion of Iraq, the one Arab nation where al-Qaida had been most brutally oppressed by its sworn enemy, Saddam Hussein, who had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack. The "key witnesses" affirmed that reality even after being subjected to torture, which would have proven deeply embarrassing to the Bush administration were it revealed in open court proceedings.

By acquiescing to the cover-up of unpleasant truths in the treatment of prisoners, Pelosi contributed to the betrayal of the ideal of public accountability that is the bedrock of our system of governance, which Congress is charged with protecting.

Comments

[GrainOSand]

This is the reason I think that if the president does have a truly "progressive" agenda, it will be slow going to get it implemented. People within his own Party are so compromised he has to allow for their vulnerability in his calculations. I do not like that fact, I say Party affiliation does not insulate one from justice. However, I can see how Nancy Pelosi and others were played as fiddles in the climate that was the weeks, months, and indeed, years after 9/11. Fear was palpable. Thugs love fear in how it divides and it conquers. Politicians were in fear of looking weak in response to an attack on the nation. Too bad so many interpreted weakness to be opposition to the cowardice that was coming out of the president's office as an honorable legitimate response to America under attack. Too bad so many thought about political future instead of future of country they say they love.

It is said crisis defines character. All the money, publicists, and Madison Avenue glitz in the world cannot mask the character flaws of certain folks that emerged under the conditions of the nation under attack. Morality is best tested in the incubator of high drama.

Here is a reflection of courage in a climate of fear:
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Political_Reform/Lone_Dissenter_BLee.html


I like Nancy Pelosi (from this distance) but she is no Barbara Lee.

[mjc]

No, but perhaps she should have been.

[norgotoad]

Good one.

I know Barbara Lee. She is a representative of mine. Pelosi you, madame, ARE NO BARBARA LEE!

[j.gold]

Put her in jail too if she broke the law.

No more one law for us and another law for them.

[norgotoad]

Here here!! Excellent!!

[gerireig]

j.gold: You got it right. The longer they sit in Congress, the more they tell themselves (in the mirror) "They don't understand. That's why they're peasants". They're horrified at the thought of losing their privileges. Did Pelosi or Reid, supposedly the Loyal Opposition (insert laugh here) ever tell Bush "NO!" to financing his murderous war? Pelosi, Reid-retire before you're dragged out.

[GreatNews27]

Indeed, her 'off the table' stance on impeachment makes sense now. She was just covering her ass like a good, corrupt politician should. Will we let this one woman stand in the way of justice? Yeah, I guess we will.

[paixa3]

Robert, thank you for the Blog. Unfortunately, I think that the USA Congress, Courts and other agencies have been betraying the PEOPLE for years.

The very saddest point is that NO ONE will do anything about it.

[captainkirk]

Although I am no fan of Nancy Pelosi and her behavior since becoming Speaker, I also remember the inherent dishonesty of the CIA. When they now say, "we told Pelosi", people forget that these are the criminals who destroyed the evidence of the crime already. The idea that a videotaped interrogation of suspects who don't speak English could ever lose its value as evidence is downright ludicrous. The fact that CIA destroyed the videos are as much of an admission of guilt as we are likely to ever get in this matter.

[JulieSA]

Her aide says Pelosi was told. She knew, and she lied when she said she didn't know. She's a liar.

[MicrowavableJohnnyCakes]

No... a "source" said an aide told Pelosi. Still in the realm of "he said/she said." Although I personally find it hard to believe that something as important and classified like waterboarding would be trusted to an aide to pass along to his boss.

[steamboat]

Julie, go to www.nndb.com and print it Scheer's name where asked....S­ee what kind of beliefs this guy has , read the bio, and who he thinks is the greatest nation in the world.

[norgotoad]

She took impeachment off the table. She gave Bush and Co. license to do anything they desired. Specifics were irrelevant. She aided and abetted all of Bush and Co. acts. She bought the car AS IS. She can't complain about the flat tires. It was a dumb irresponsible move. But she has to own it.

[Poboy]

...add to that Pelosi's taking impeachment off the table, funding the Iraq war, not enforcing Congress' subpoena's and no effective oversight or accountability of the executive branch and you get a more complete picture of Nancy's fancies.