In Defense of the Speaker of the House

As of May 16, several national newspaper and television headlines were adopting an accusatory tone critical of Speaker Nancy Pelosi that undoubtedly tickled the actual authorizers (Vice President Cheney et al) and the actual practitioners (Central Intelligence Agency) of torture during the previous administration, 2001-2009. For example: "CIA Director Panetta Rebuts Pelosi's Charges," Washington Post, May 16.

Having worked for a Senate leader on Capitol Hill, I can attest that--when leaders of Congress are notified of major covert operations--the briefings are often incomplete at best and are sometimes prone to gloss over what is really going on. A full briefing on relevant CIA activities is seldom guaranteed.

Despite CIA Director Leon Panetta's morale-booster claim that agents do not mislead Congress--he was not at Langley during the last administration and is in no position to know when the CIA has prevaricated with Congress--they have lied to and misled members of Congress on numerous occasions in the last 30 years! Sens. Goldwater and Rockefeller, among others, have so charged. Get real!

It should be noted that under the National Security Act of 1947, as amended, and the 1991 Intelligence Authorization Act, the Executive Branch is required to ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept "fully and currently informed"of U.S. intelligence activities, including any "significant anticipated intelligence activity."

House Intelligence Committee chairman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas), has accurately described what usually happens in reality:

When the CIA comes in to notify you about a very sensitive intelligence program, you don't have the opportunity to get all your questions answered or to review legal documents. You're not allowed to consult with any lawyers or experts. You're not even allowed to discuss the matter with your colleagues or your staff.

Are Pelosi's critics suggesting that half-informed Democratic leaders (not in the Executive Branch) should have stopped the Republican leaders of the Executive Branch (the White House of Bush/Cheney) from ordering the torturing of terrorist suspects, a practice that began even before the Justice Department had signed off on its legality?! Moreover, is the CIA suggesting that Congress should have intervened after being briefed, the company in effect pleading: "Stop us, before we torture again"?

After all, the two houses of Congress--let alone the Speaker--have no investigative agency of their own and no way to question the veracity of the intelligence agencies in public, without being bludgeoned for divulging state secrets. Even the rules of the House and Senate prohibit members from publicly disclosing CIA criminal/illegal acts that have been "classified," unless they read it into the Congressional Record--and thereby risk censure by their respective bodies. Violations of the Geneva Conventions on torture would certainly qualify!

Rep. Pelosi was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee in 2002; and became House Minority Leader in 2003. Former Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), who was chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee in the period after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, has said that he also was not briefed by CIA officials on the actual use of waterboarding in 2002. I believe Sen. Graham. Moreover, he has questioned whether information provided by the CIA on the content of intelligence briefings is accurate, noting that agency officials reported he attended briefings on days that his personal journal shows he did not.

Senators and Representatives were saddled with these dilemmas by a highly secretive, "unitary executive" White House under Cheney/Bush. What would the critics have had members of the intelligence committees (and the leaders of House and Senate) do if they knew they were not getting a "serious" briefing? Sam Stein is correct: we are missing the forest for the trees.

As Vice President Dick Cheney demonstrated, he was willing to engage in national security "thuggery" to keep the lid on all sorts of nefarious activities.

William E. Jackson, Jr. is the former Chief Legislative Assistant to the Senate Democratic Whip, Alan Cranston, D-CA.

Comments

[gurukalehuru]

I object to the efforts to portray this as Pelosi v. CIA. I see it more as a conflict between Pelosi and the CIA on one side, and truth, decency and the rule of law on the other.
She may claim that she was never working for them, but she sure as hell wasn't working for us.

[bruster55]

You Sir have shown that you don't have a clue as to what you are blogging about.

[DRaymond]

Does any sane person actually believe that in this secret briefing somebody stood up and said. "The top terrorists we have captured haven't provided us with anything that provides a clear justification for invading Iraq so several weeks ago Vice President Cheney has ordered us to torture them several times every day until they do. We later had our legal people create some briefs to justify this under Article 2"

Of course not. The CIA's 'disclosure' probably consisted of some bullet point buried deep within the presentation that mentioned 'enhanced interrogation techniques' and surrounded it with all sorts of mentions of all the precautions that were being taken to insure that there were no injuries.

[Decipherer]

Precisely.

If the Orwellian euphemism "enhanced interrogation techniques" was used without explanation, would a person hearing or reading that phrase automatically assume the reference was to waterboarding and/or all the other torture techniques that were actually used in violation of interenational treaties and authorized by the highest levels of our government?

As you said, "of course not."

[laocoon]

isnt the secrecy needed to be a great power simply inconsistent with democracy? the people are the sovereign in this country and the sovereign ultimately runs the country indirectly through its representatives. we cannot do this if the vital information we need is kept secret. if this is necessary to a great power we need to reduce our status so the the sovereign may have the information needed to make the decisions. we have traded our democracy for military and global dominance. who really profits from that trade?

[jail4wncrew]

I see a lot of comment from progressives just not on TV or in major newspapers that are controlled by the Elites. May I recommend Marcy Wheeler article in Salon: http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2009/05/18/torture/index2.html. Marcy is all over this story over at firedoglake.com. You cannot rely on the TV networks or the major newspapers anymore to present an honest picture - alter all they failed in their contemporaneous reporting at the time; too imbedded with the Bush/Cheney administration.

[2bad]

I think most Americans are missing the point, which is what republicans want I suppose.

If Ms. Pelosi knew about torture and lied, she only has a problem with the left.

The fact of the matter is Bush administration officials gave the go ahead and authorized torture, which is a War Crime, and they should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

[mike42nola]

I think that you are correct that Speaker Pelosi does have a huge problem with the left, but not only with the left. She has a huge problem now with the American people because she flat out lied to them. Anytime a prominent, national public figure such as the Speaker of the House lies to protect her own skin there is a problem that transcends party lines.
If I were part of the Republican leadership in the House I would just gather with my Democratic counterparts and tell them that I don't want to do anything because you need to clean your own house.

[2bad]

I think you've missed my point.

No one has proven Pelosi lied about anything.

You "would just gather with my Democratic counterparts and tell them that I don't want to do anything because you need to clean your own house" like what Pelosi may or may not have lied about is anything even close to what the Bush Admin. is being accused of.

You're comparing apples to oranges. Bush Admin. officials have and continue to admit to committing WAR CRIMES!!! I would think the American people should be far more concerned about violations of this magnitude being done in their name than if the Speaker lied about knowing it was being done.

[Decipherer]

It's called "The Pelosi Diversion," the latest Robert Ludlum novel, available soon at your local bookseller.

[The Hedonistic Pleasureseeker]

Lying liars and the countries they run. I'm being tortured, by the media. Somehow it managed to direct attention away from the GOP’s love of torture to the sideshow of wathcing Nancy Pelosi finding a flaming bag of poo on her doorstep, which she prompty started stomping on instead of just closing the door and going back inside. Now her leg is on fire, and everything smells like poo. Which means of course that the idiot press will eat it up, and Hopey will have ANOTHER excuse to be very conveniently “prevented” from doing anything about the real issue -the US did stupid, illegal, immoral, counterproductiv, torture, AND BOTH PARTIES ALLOWED IT TO HAPPEN.

Let's waterboard them all till they admit to orchestrating 9/11, and tell us where Jimmy Hoffa is buried. Because torture works, right?

If the real Jesus Christ were to stand up today
He’d be gunned down cold by the CIA.

[Decipherer]

Want to go out?

[allenosuno]

I wonder why there is not more outcry from progressives about national mainstream media complicity in these GOP noise campaigns, like the current Pelosi-CIA brouhaha? It is obvious that the media oligarchs side with the GOP, They regularly push GOP talking points and agendas. Why isn't there more of a push to restore the Fairness Doctrine, seeing that we have a media monopoly concentrated in the hands of a few right-leaning oligarchs? The press has assumed throughout this affair that Pelosi is lying and the CIA is not. Fortunately, the public is less and less influenced by media pundits telling them what to think. They have seen press complicity in Bush Administration crimes and during the 2008 campaign when the press let McCain slide on his lies and defamation while holding Obama's feet to the fire, The press is a mouthpiece for the status-quo. The old independent reporting is gone. This latest Pelosi dust up is a prime example of press complicity. How can we get the Fairness Doctrine going? Let Republicans scream. They oppose everything anyway. I suppose though that Obama, in order not to excessively antagonize the right, will oppose reinstituting the Fairness Doctrine. Trying to buy off the GOP is ALWAYS a mistake. The press needs to be reined in and held to accountability if we are ever to hope to have a chance at real reform of health care, the environment, etc.

[Imabachi]

allenosuno

You are exactly right. Anyone who's kept up with the Bush Crime Family's (War Crimes were their speciality) activities during those Dark Days knows that they lied about everything, as they're lying now. And I agree with Pelosi that they ought to get everything out on the table 'cause that's where they've needed to be all along. And let the chips fall where they may. The nation needs to see and hear what the Bush Cabal has done, and the Cabal needs to be punished severely for death and destruction they intentionally caused.

[mike42nola]

Both sides like to play obstructionist games. The press was actually acused of being in the bag for President Obama and from some of the so called news conferences I have witnessed since he took office I have to agree that they are playing softball with him.
But this is about Speaker Pelosi and her lying to the American people, not how the press is in the bag for one side or the other. Pelosi flat out lied to the American people, her colleagues in Congress and the President. She is not credible as a person much less credible as the Speaker of the House and she needs to go. She will do nothing but hurt the Obama administration from this point on if she does not step down or be voted out of the seat.
This should not come as a surprise to anyone because, when anyone, from any party, is between a rock and a hard spot, they try to lie their way out of it. We have become so polarized that the standard thinking from a congressperson isthat even if they are caught in a lie half of the people will still support them because they have us in nice, neat red/blue boxes and they can always count on their color to side with them.
We need to stop supporting these people just because they happen to belong to the party we favor and throw them all out of office and start fresh.

[zest]

The gop politicied all branches of goverment in their control; control being the operative word. It's quite a stretch to believe that Bob Graham and Nancy Pelosi would be told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth by the CIA.
Repubs can spin it any way they want but the public isn't going to buy this pig in a poke again. Never again.

[druidlady42]

Sorry, but the general public IS buying this illogical, hypocritical spin about Pelosi, MAINLY because there's been NO pushback from the Dems, while the Repubs have used the general "dislike" for Pelosi on both sides to their own advantage! She's their new "Hillary"!

LIES, unchallenged, become public reality! Remember the nonexistent WMD's the CIA said were there?

Without challenge, without a REAL investigation of what happened in the past, Republicans will never have to accept ANY responsibility or accountibility for their support of the abhorrant, destructive policies of the past administration! Having never been humbled by revealed FACTS, they will continue operating from a position of strength to oppose/block every significant issue central to Obama's agenda,---you know, the agenda the MAJORITY of the American people voted for!

Shouldn't we all have learned by now that Republicans do not compromise; they--unlike the Democrats--play to WIN, no matter how low they need to sink!

[mike42nola]

I think that you are giving the Democratic Party way too much credit for playing fair. They are actually no different than the Republican Party when it comes down to shoving their agenda's down our throat. They both play dirty and play to WIN.
Don't you remember that President Bush I had to raise taxes during his term after promising not to do so? Raising taxes was a compromise by him with the majority Democratic controlled Congress. He was able to cut the budget but had to raise taxes in order to do so. Once he raised taxes the Democrats in Congress crucified him and actually set him up for failure.
I will continue to say that Congress, not the President, has been our problem for almost 40 years now and we need to start imposing term limits on these elitists by voting them out of office every second term. They were supposed to give us term limits on themselves in 1994 and 30 Republicans that had signed the Contract with America defected and voted with the Democrats against term limits. This only goes to show that they only have their own self serving interests at heart and don;'t care about the common American people.

[ConnieInCleveland]

If the Democrats push back and mainstream media doesn't cover it, does that mean they are not really pushing back? Or has mainstream media high jacked the voices of those who are trying to push back and replaced it with spin from the right?

[Gmoney1]

the media is always leading the american people down some non-sensical path of phoney outrage - and the people fall for it - now they want us to listen to their nonsense about the so call pro-life v. pro-choice - with their made up stats - people are losing their jobs and the media is carrying on about women and their right to have or not have children - why aren't the religious people just as adamant about guns and how they affect the living -

[SEQUOIABISON]

Thank you Mr Jackson Jr for relating your on the job experience with the CIA and the Brilliant analysis.

As usual the Republicans got caught with their hand in the cookie jar and are trying to blame someone else for their misdeeds.

I am ever so grateful that we have Nancy Pelosi as our Speaker, she is extremely intelligent, very tough and very effective, which is why the Republicans hate her.

Since her elevation to the Speakers job, I feel as though I am living in America again. Gingrich and Delay made me feel like I was living in a Fascist state where the American people were marginalized in favor of corporate conglomerates.

Nancy will survive this ordeal and help Obama get the legislation he requests through the House, the Senate is another matter.

[mike42nola]

No, the American People hate someone that flat out lies to them to save their own skin all the while calling for prosecution of those she was complicit with.
This is another case of political hypocrosy. She is calling for peoples heads that she sat at the same table with and got the same information that they got. This is Elliot Spitzer all over again. Had she not been so arrogant about this situation it might not get so bad for her. President Obama cannot afford to have a liar and cheat so close to him in his administration. This is far much worse than any of the rejected tax cheats that had to pull out of cabinent level nominations.
Pelosi should resign and let the voters decide if she will even keep her house seat.

[Decipherer]

You are blissfully and purposefully ignorant of the operations of the federal government, but we'll let that inconvenient truth go for a moment.

Please tell us who Speaker Pelosi has called out for prosecution. I've been paying attention to all this and I have never heard her utter a call for prosecution. Investigation, maybe, but not prosecution. Please advise if you have better information, and not just your word for it, OK?

The word is spelled "hypocrisy," and how is it that you can compare her conduct with Eliot (note spelling) Spitzer, who was forced to resign as governor of New York after ADMITTING to an extra-marital affair? I fail to see a connection, but maybe your brilliant explanation can provide one.

I'd also like to learn your SPECIFIC allegations of Pelosi being either or both a "liar and a cheat." Unless you think that the rightwingnut sound machine is the best source of information on these matters, so far what we have is a difference of opinion about matters over which she had NO CONTROL and could not have stopped the torture, and was prohibited BY LAW from discussing.

Now, as for Pelosi being in President Obama's administration, surely you realize that she is Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, which is one of two Houses of Congress, and is NOT part of the Executive Branch for which the is president responsible. The Speaker of the House is NOT an member of the administration, OK?

[Tena]

This whole "what did Pelosi know when" thing is a big Red Herring. It has no bearing on the issue here which is whether or not the Bush Administration broke the law and Pelosi's knowing or not does not change that.

It's stupid that the GOP got the press to chase this damn distraction down the primrose path - cause it's irrelevant right now. It might become relevant if anyone is ever charged with anything but right now it makes no difference to the real issue - it's an enormous red herring.

[mike42nola]

It is not a Red Herring. She was calling for prosecution of President Bush's advisors while she was complicit with those advisors.
Let the prosecution happen but don't let her off the hook. Prosecute her as well and give her the same penalty that you give the others.

[Decipherer]

Why do you hate America?

[ConnieInCleveland]

Strategery – Strategy with a spin. Spin the facts, to the point the truth is no longer evident, then attack, attack, attack. It’s an “Assault on Reason”. It’s strategery!

I think Nancy Pelosi is having her ‘shot in the face moment’. Now they want her to apologize. Dick Cheney learned an important lesson during his 8 years in office. You can shoot someone in the face, spin the facts and get the victim to apologize.

Dick Cheney’s actions, shot our country in the heart. His actions were against American principles and the rule of law. George W. and Dick Cheney took America to a war of choice, using fixed facts, fake documents and torture. Now we are supposed to move along. Those who refuse to move along are attacked, attacked, attacked. No accountability required. The only ones held accountable by the Bush administration are the victims.

Torture is a War Crime. It doesn’t matter who was told. Dick Cheney has spun the truth, misleading ordinary Americans to believe Nancy Pelosi was a co-conspirator. With the aid of MSM, Dick Cheney is spinning Nancy Pelosi into being more relevant than the ones who authorized torture in the first place. Dick Cheney wants Nancy Pelosi to apologize, while he gets a pass for actually breaking our laws. That’s an “Assault on Reason” and us.

[WorldofTomorrow420]

I could not agree more! What really sticks in my craw, however, is that President Obama is leading the charge for "just move along, nothing to see here".

[ConnieInCleveland]

Agreed! President Obama may be committing a grievous error in not pursuing justice. I'm afraid, he is afraid of the fallout it will cause in the Democratic party. America and the world needs justice. We must stop moving along!

Our justice must be protected, not our political parties.

[allenosuno]

I love how Republicans ASSUME Pelosi is lying and the CIA is not.

We all know by now that lying is as Republican as apple pie. Why would lying bother Republicans?

It is not too hard to figure out that all the GOP seeks to do, is to change our national dialog from important substantive issues like national health care to whether Nancy Pelosi was lying.

Unless we all have an obsession with the current Speaker of the House, who cares? In 2003 Pelosi was a member of the MINORITY party, She was not even the ranking member of the House Intelligence committee, and, like other politicians who are briefed on matters of national security, she agreed to confidentiality. Does anyone think that in that her objections would have changed anything anyway?

The decision to use torture was not Nancy Pelosi's. The sooner we ask what George Bush, Dick Cheney, Karl Rove, et al, knew and when they knew, it the sooner we'll get answers that REALLY MATTER .

Republicans see this as their best chance to take a shot at Barack Obama’s reform agenda. Getting Nancy Pelosi to step down would be a major propaganda coup and THAT is why ‘nopers’ are pushing it.

Republicans and neocons think they smell blood. They don’t care about America or helping out in this terrible time of crisis. They only care about political ‘gotcha’. I hope the public sees this latest GOP storm as the political cynicism that it is.

[Soulsurfer]

Exactly. And what about the MSM giving the repugs so much air time over this non-issue? "Liberal Media" my butt!

[ConnieInCleveland]

When the Republicans were in the majority, MSM gave them the platform to spread their propaganda. Now that Democrats are in the majority, MSM gives Republicans the platform to spread their propaganda once again.

The use of the term 'Liberal Media' is spin. They are spinning the truth once again, leading ordinary Americans to believe, they are not the 'voice of the right'. That's just wrong. When they give Republicans more air-time, they are spinning for the right, while the right spins the term 'Liberal Media'. It's 'Stratergy' and MSM are willing participants in the use of spin. They willfully spin the truth into unrecognizable blather. Misleading ordinary Americans to believe the truth could go either way.

In America, we use ‘the rule of law’, which requires 'the truth and nothing but the truth'. It's time to get people, under oath, where truth is the only option. Lies, distortion and half-truths are crimes. Our country was founded with the 'rule of law' as our guide for a reason. The 'truth' is an important part of America's 'rule of law'. We should seek the truth and nothing but the truth.

[ladycubsfan]

Going after Pelosi is just a smokescreen to distract from the real issue: The Bush administration broke the law. First they tried to re-write it, but they went ahead and tortured before it was re-written anyway. Then they tried to justify it by finding a link between Bin Laden and Iraq. When that didn't happen, they manufactured one.
Are we to believe that those who worked so hard to mastermind all of this criminal activity bothered to tell Pelosi and others what they were doing? Tell the minority party, the opposition, about their misdeeds? Yeah, right!
She didn't know all the facts. None of them did. Just the Bush criminals.

[lastpost]

As I understand it, “ignorance does not constitute grounds for a defence”. If you allow someone to provide you with information that is incomplete, incorrect or deliberately misleading, such gullibility is your responsibility. In her position, I would have required that the messenger place the briefing on record. So that any future repercussions resulting from their actions, would not reflect upon me. For while I am accountable for my actions, I do not accept responsibility for the actions of others.

[COPerez]

As I understand the rules - some of which were laid out in the article - these briefing cannot be placed "on the record." They also give the intelligence briefers very wide lattitude in deciding what to include and what to leave out - based on classification levels and "need to know."