Question: Is the House Speaker experiencing a mild bout of amnesia or is it just a simple case of selective memory?
This article reveals that the speaker recently issued a statement challenging the possible discrepancy “of the 40 C.I.A. briefings to Congress reported recently in the press, I was only briefed once, on September 4, 2002, as I have previously stated.” Could the C.I.A. be lying about the content of the briefings or is it the other way around?-You Decide:
Pelosi Criticized Over Interrogation Briefings: Posted on The New York Times-By SCOTT SHANE AND CARL HULSE-On May 9, 2009:
These are pertinent excerpts from this article:
“Congressional Republicans on Friday accused Democrats of full complicity in the approval of the Bush administration’s brutal interrogations, citing a new accounting that shows frequent briefings for some top Democrats on water-boarding and other harsh methods starting in 2002.
The new chart of briefings, prepared by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the first full listing of briefings, appears to call into question the assertion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi that she was never told that water-boarding and other methods were used, only that the Central Intelligence Agency believed they were legal and could be used.
The chart says that at the first briefing, on Sept. 4, 2002, Ms. Pelosi, then the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, and Representative Porter J. Goss, then the committee’s Republican chairman, were given a “description” of the interrogation methods that “had been employed” against a prisoner, Abu Zubaydah.
On Friday, the speaker issued a statement challenging the possible discrepancy. “Of the 40 C.I.A. briefings to Congress reported recently in the press, I was only briefed once, on September 4, 2002, as I have previously stated.” She said she was ‘briefed on interrogation techniques the administration was considering using in the future” and that the techniques were determined to be legal.
She also noted that Leon Panetta, the director of the C.I.A., had warned lawmakers that the descriptions of briefings provided in the new report “may not be accurate.”
Republicans also unveiled legislation aimed at curbing any attempt to move prisoners from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison to the United States as part of President Obama’s order to close the Cuban detention center by early next year. The name of the bill, the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, succinctly explained the Republican line of attack.
Since President Obama released Bush administration legal memorandums describing brutal interrogation techniques last month, some Democrats have accused the former Justice Department lawyers who wrote the memos of approving torture and President Obama has not ruled out possible criminal charges against them, though he has said there will be no prosecution of C.I.A. interrogators who were told their actions were legal.
Now Republicans are mounting an aggressive pushback on several fronts: highlighting evidence that at least some Democrats in Congress failed to speak out against the harsh methods; accusing the Obama administration of endangering Americans by emptying Guantanamo; and even asserting that the counterterrorism policies of President Bill Clinton violated human rights.
Republicans have been pressing for more disclosure by Ms. Pelosi for weeks, seeing it as a way to try to keep her on the defensive while also bolstering their claim that the interrogation techniques were fully disclosed to lawmakers.
The issue also has repercussions for the speaker among liberal activists who want to know why she did not do more to oppose and disclose the methods if she knew about them.
Democrats say the new information on the briefings supports the speaker’s contention that she was briefed just once and that the specific term water-boarding is not mentioned as part of the subject matter in that session while it is identified as part of briefings attended by others. However, the new report states that Ms. Pelosi was briefed on Sept. 4, 2002, on enhanced interrogation techniques “that had been employed” in contrast with her position that she was not told that any enhanced techniques were being used.”
Note: My recent Blogs relate to this is issue-You Decide:
Another Imminent Homeland & National Security Issue!
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/another-imminent-homeland-national-security-issue/
Does Human Rights Law Apply to Terrorists?
http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/05/07/does-human-rights-law-apply-to-terrorists/
“Food For Thought”
“God Bless & Keep Our USA Safe”
Semper Fi!
[...] http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/pelosi-criticized-over-interrogation-briefings/ [...]
[...] http://weroinnm.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/pelosi-criticized-over-interrogation-briefings/ [...]