Leadership, President Pelosi and the “Death of Truth Commission”
I was, even as an “old man”, amazed as I watched and listened to Acting President Pelosi the past few days. Boil away all the rhetoric, and below is a series of assertions from her own words (not what someone attributed to her).
• The Acting President calls for a “Truth Commission” to investigate who knew what about enhanced interrogation (waterboarding) and should government officials involved in those decisions be tried for crimes.
• Madame Speaker (and Acting President), upon learning that some are saying that she (as a Democrat on the Intelligence Committee) was briefed on enhanced interrogation in 2003…denies she was briefed.
• The Acting President, as records leak out that indicate she was briefed along with Porter Goss (the Republican on the House Intelligence Committee), states that she wasn’t there, but that her staff member was there and there was no mention of “waterboarding”.
• She amends her statement to say that “we were told waterboarding was not being used”. “That’s the only mention, that they were not using it . And now we know that earlier they were.” (Note: Ms. Pelosi is flat out saying two things in this statement: that the CIA told her that they were not using waterboarding, and that they had used waterboarding). This is not subject to “misunderstanding” or interpretation; this directly accuses the CIA of lying to Congress (quickly, now, who was the head of the CIA at the time, and which president appointed him?).
• Acting President Pelosi calls a news conference and, when asked if she is accusing the CIA of lying to her…answers “yes,…I am”. And goes on to say “They do it all the time”.
• Ms. Pelosi replied, when asked if her knowledge (and lack of any known objection for 6 years) made her complicit, stated forcefully, “ My statement is clear, and let me say it again. Uh, I’m sorry, I have to find the page…when my staff person…I’m sorry, this page is out of order…”.
• After new CIA head Leon Panetta (I’ll remember who appointed this right wing fanatic in a minute) said publically that Pelosi was “briefed truthfully”, the Acting President issued a statement saying “ My criticism of the manner in which the Bush Administration (Emmanual Goldstein) did not inform Congress is separate from my respect for those (liars) in the intelligence community who work to keep our country safe.”
• Ms. Pelosi then, on May 14th, said that one of her aides told her in February, 2003, that the CIA had briefed other members of Congress about the use of waterboarding. Upon questioning as to why she didn’t object at the time, she said that it was because Rep. Jane Hartman wrote a letter of protest.( But there is no evidence that Ms. Pelosi “signed on" to this letter, and, upon airing of the letter, it is not a letter of protest, but a letter seeking clarification.)
Can any objective person believe anything Ms. Pelosi says?
And where is the Titular President in all of this? President Obama said that he thought waterboarding was torture and should not be done. But he expressed his view that he was against looking backward, and having investigations of past practices. He stated that the country was better off to look forward and move on. I agreed with him. But then came pressure from the left wing. Later he said it was “ a matter for the Attorney General” to consider and make a decision. (I wonder if he meant the AG that he appointed and serves at his leisure.) And now the Titular president is strangely silent on the issue.
Why not get his own party together, “reach across the aisle” to the Republicans, and say (in this new “post partisan” era), the past is the past, let’s stop ripping the country apart with these partisan attacks that don’t change the past, and move forward, addressing the economy, national security and the issues we can change now and into the future, to help the American people today? That would be Leadership.
Do we really need the weekly “Hate” for Emmanual Goldstein, right now?
The Old Man
