Finally...Nancy Pelosi Has Been Publically Exposed As The Weasel We All Knew She Was

[bigstickbonzo]

Seriously, string that hose beast up and throw her out!!!

It's been known to some of us for a LONG time Pelosi has been a trainwreck in-waiting and it seems her time might have finally come. She's had serious resentment towards Obama, the JV senator who became Prez, has tried to eclipse every other Democrat and Republican since becoming Madame Speaker and now has stepped in the smelliest of shit one can step in, well..besides starting a costly unjust war. It's been highly entertaining watching her first try to put this whole mess to bed by saying "She was never involved" with any CIA discussions, then of course, we found out, indeed, she was very involved. Now, she's called out the CIA and says they've mislead her. The CIA is now prepping to disclose all records of Pelosi's involvement. Game. Set. Match?

[eternal light]

The CIA misleads people?

[bigstickbonzo]

I take it you missed her brilliantly orchestrated press conference today.

[eternal light]

I read the front page news over the last few days.

[bigstickbonzo]

It just goes to show what someone who steps in shit looks like after the fact. If she was completely innocent of any wrong-doing, she would have aced this press conference. What would she have to hide? Nothing.

[eternal light]

I also noticed another interesting item this morning.

WASHINGTON — A former FBI interrogator who questioned al-Qaida prisoners testified today that the Bush administration falsely boasted of success from extreme techniques like waterboarding, when those methods were slow, unreliable and made an important witness stop talking.

-LARRY MARGASAK

chron.com

Edited May 15, 2009 by eternal light

[Jarlaxle 56]

We all knew she was a weasel because every person involved heavily in politics is a weasel.

[TypeO]

I think the best part will be watching as she's systematically withdrawn from and hung out to dry, as others who were also aware yet denied it distance themselves.

[eternal light]

The CIA is now prepping to disclose all records of Pelosi's involvement.

I think the best part will be watching as she's systematically withdrawn from and hung out to dry, as others who were also aware yet denied it distance themselves.

I guess the CIA does use harsh methods.

Ali Soufan, testifying to a Senate panel behind a screen to hide his identity, said his team's non-threatening interrogation approach elicited crucial information from al-Qaida operative Abu Zubaydah, including intelligence on "dirty bomb" terrorist Jose Padilla.

Soufan said his team had to step aside when CIA contractors took over. They began using harsh methods that caused Zubaydah to "shut down," Soufan said, and his team had to be recalled the get the prisoner talking again.

-LARRY MARGASAK

chron.com

Edited May 15, 2009 by eternal light

[jabe]

We all knew she was a weasel because every person involved heavily in politics is a weasel.

Fuckin' aye!

[cryingbluerain]

Nancy Pelosi is a freaking IDIOT and I am enjoying watching her implode. Can you believe she actually had the nerve to publicly accuse the CIA of Lying, and Misleading Congress. She is out of her mind. She basically accused the CIA of a crime, and I bet you anything that they have the ability to prove that she is the real Liar, not them. Of course, by doing so they will crush her reputation, and possibly ruin her Speakership position. She is messing with the Big Boys now, and they will not take it lying down. What a stupid, senile, dope head she is indeed.

[eternal light]

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cia.gov/kids-page

Nancy Pelosi is a freaking IDIOT and I am enjoying watching her implode. Can you believe she actually had the nerve to publicly accuse the CIA of Lying, and Misleading Congress. She is out of her mind. She basically accused the CIA of a crime, and I bet you anything that they have the ability to prove that she is the real Liar, not them. Of course, by doing so they will crush her reputation, and possibly ruin her Speakership position. She is messing with the Big Boys now, and they will not take it lying down. What a stupid, senile, dope head she is indeed.

K-5th Grade

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Look through our pages and you will learn all about us. If you read carefully, you can become a CIA expert. We also have some fun stories and games for you.

cia.gov/kids-page/k-5th-grade

Now there is an honest face if ever I saw one.

If you can't trust Arno then who can you trust to tell the truth?

WASHINGTON - The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Ms Nancy Pelosi, has bluntly accused the Central Intelligence Agency of misleading her and other lawmakers about its use of waterboarding during the Bush administration, escalating a controversy that has grown to include both political parties, the spy agency and the White House.

"It is not the policy of this agency to mislead the United States Congress," responded a CIA spokesman, although he refused to answer directly when asked whetherMs Pelosi's accusation was accurate.

However, the House's top Democrat, speaking at a news conference yesterday, was unequivocal about a CIA briefing she received in 2002. "We were told that waterboarding was not being used," the Speaker said. "That's the only mention, that they were not using it. And we now know that earlier they were."

Ms Pelosi suggested that the CIA release the briefing material.

Ms Pelosi also vehemently disputed Republican charges that she was complicit in the use of waterboarding and she suggested that the Republicans were trying to shift the focus of public attention away from the Bush administration's use of techniques that she and President Barack Obama have described as torture.

todayonline.com/World/EDC090515-0000099/CIA-misled-me--Pelosi

Soufan testified that "many of the claims made" by the Bush administration were inaccurate or half-truths.

He cited these examples:

— The administration said Abu Zubaydah was not cooperating before Aug. 1, 2002, when waterboarding was approved. "The truth is that we got actionable intelligence from him in the first hour of interrogating him" before that date. — The administration credited waterboarding for Zubaydah's information that led to the capture of Padilla, who received a 17-year, four-month sentence, although prosecutors did not present any dirty-bomb information. Padilla was arrested in May 2002, months before waterboarding was authorized, Soufan said.

chron.com

Soufan appeared before a Senate Judiciary subcommittee holding the first hearing on extreme interrogation methods since the Obama administration last month released Bush administration legal opinions authorizing them.

Memos by the Bush Justice Department contended waterboarding, sleep deprivation and other extreme techniques were legal under U.S. and international law, but Democrats said they amounted to torture.

President Barack Obama has said he wanted to avoid partisan hearings over the interrogations, but the hearing turned partisan in its opening seconds.

Subcommittee Chairman Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, promised at the outset to unravel "our country's descent into torture" and vowed to expose "a bodyguard of lies" by the Bush administration.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Republican, asked whether "we would have this hearing if we were attacked this afternoon."

Graham called the hearing a "political stunt" and said Democrats were trying to judge officials who — soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks — "woke up one morning like most Americans and said, 'Oh, my God, what's coming next?'" He also joined in the frequent Republican criticism that members of Congress, including the leader of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, were briefed on the interrogation program and raised no protest at the time.

chron.com

In 2007 it was reported that the CIA was using waterboarding on extrajudicial prisoners and that the United States Department of Justice had authorized the procedure,a revelation that sparked a worldwide political scandal.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterboarding

It is interesting that Ali Soufan, the FBI interrogator, said that he had elicited information from Zubaidah, whereas the CIA said that Zubaidah had refused to cooperate. When harsh tactics caused Zubaidah to "shut down" the CIA had to bring Ali Soufan's team back to reestablish communication. Apparently the harsh tactics failed.

By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen

Washington Post Staff Writers

Sunday, December 9, 2007; Page A01

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Abu Zubaida, the first of the "high-value" detainees in CIA custody, was subjected to harsh interrogation methods beginning in spring 2002 after he refused to cooperate with questioners, the officials said. CIA briefers gave the four intelligence committee members limited information about Abu Zubaida's detention in spring 2002, but offered a more detailed account of its interrogation practices in September of that year, said officials with direct knowledge of the briefings.

The CIA provided another briefing the following month, and then about 28 additional briefings over five years, said three U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge of the meetings. During these sessions, the agency provided information about the techniques it was using as well as the information it collected.

Lawmakers have varied recollections about the topics covered in the briefings.

Graham said he has no memory of ever being told about waterboarding or other harsh tactics. Graham left the Senate intelligence committee in January 2003, and was replaced by Rockefeller. "Personally, I was unaware of it, so I couldn't object," Graham said in an interview. He said he now believes the techniques constituted torture and were illegal.

Pelosi declined to comment directly on her reaction to the classified briefings. But a congressional source familiar with Pelosi's position on the matter said the California lawmaker did recall discussions about enhanced interrogation. The source said Pelosi recalls that techniques described by the CIA were still in the planning stage -- they had been designed and cleared with agency lawyers but not yet put in practice -- and acknowledged that Pelosi did not raise objections at the time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Harman, who replaced Pelosi as the committee's top Democrat in January 2003, disclosed Friday that she filed a classified letter to the CIA in February of that year as an official protest about the interrogation program. Harman said she had been prevented from publicly discussing the letter or the CIA's program because of strict rules of secrecy.

"When you serve on intelligence committee you sign a second oath -- one of secrecy," she said. "I was briefed, but the information was closely held to just the Gang of Four. I was not free to disclose anything."

Roberts declined to comment on his participation in the briefings. Rockefeller also declined to talk about the briefings, but the West Virginia Democrat's public statements show him leading the push in 2005 for expanded congressional oversight and an investigation of CIA interrogation practices. "I proposed without success, both in committee and on the Senate floor, that the committee undertake an investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation activities," Rockefeller said in a statement Friday.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a former Vietnam War prisoner who is seeking the GOP presidential nomination, took an early interest in the program even though he was not a member of the intelligence committee, and spoke out against waterboarding in private conversations with White House officials in late 2005 before denouncing it publicly.

washingtonpost.com

In a carefully worded statement, Pelosi's office said today that she had never been briefed about the use of waterboarding, only that it had been approved by Bush administration lawyers as a legal technique to use in interrogations.

"As this document shows, the Speaker was briefed only once, in September 2002. The briefers described these techniques, said they were legal, but said that waterboarding had not yet been used," said Brendan Daly, Pelosi's spokesman.

voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/05/cia_says_pelosi_was_briefed_on

So far Pelosi's statements are consistent with the earlier reports by the Washington Post.

She is saying that she was not briefed in detail until September 2002. Nancy Pelosi is also correct that she was only given limited information in Spring 2002, at the same time that harsh tactics were used on Zubaidah, as corroborated by the December 9, 2007 article published by the Washington Post.

Republican Lindsay Graham said basically the same thing, that he did not know about the harsh tactics when he was on the committee earlier in the process. So even Lindsay Graham's statements support Democrat Nancy Pelosi's story.

This means that both Lindsay Graham and Nancy Pelosi did not know about the harsh tactics being used by the CIA until after the fact.

When Democrats Rockefeller and Harman took over on the intelligence committee, both made strong efforts; Rockefeller by encouraging increased congressional oversight, and Harman by her official letter of protest to the CIA's practices.

It took the Democratic President Obama to implement the changes though, because the Republican President Bush was heavily influenced by Vice President Cheney's support of the use of harsh tactics.

On a bipartisan note, it is important to mention that Republican John McCain registered his disapproval of torture very early in the debate.

Looking over the members, I do not see when Lindsay Graham served on the intelligence committee.

intelligence.senate.gov/members107thcongress

Edited May 15, 2009 by eternal light

[TypeO]

Sorry, I have a hard time believing that terrorists who are willing to die for their stated cause of destroying the U.S. would just calmly spill their guts and betray their brethren-in-ideology as soon as an "interviewer" simply asked them to do so.

I understand my lack of belief of a thing does not disprove its existence, but these claims by Soufan and others still push the limits of credibility far beyond any reasonable doubt.

Smells like agenda to me.

On a side note, I am always impressed at the research Eternal Light consistently brings to the table in debates.

Well done.

[Bong-Man]

I offer no resistance on this one.....off with her head !!

[TypeO]

I offer no resistance on this one.....off with her head !!

^5

[Uncle Bill]

waffle house, from the daily show

[eternal light]

Sorry, I have a hard time believing that terrorists who are willing to die for their stated cause of destroying the U.S. would just calmly spill their guts and betray their brethren-in-ideology as soon as an "interviewer" simply asked them to do so.

I understand my lack of belief of a thing does not disprove its existence, but these claims by Soufan and others still push the limits of credibility far beyond any reasonable doubt.

Smells like agenda to me.

On a side note, I am always impressed at the research Eternal Light consistently brings to the table in debates.

Well done.

You're welcome, TypeO.

It seems that people are more able to spill their guts if they are not too compromised by torture. They are going to say just so much if they are passed out on the floor or otherwise deemed semi or unconscious.

You catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.

It is difficult to see how being mean to people promotes goodwill toward the United States.

They might have gleaned more information if they had simply sat down with them over coffee and Krispy Kremes, or if they had put Paul Deen in charge of the interrogations. She is great at getting people to talk.

The following document is no longer classified as top secret.

In February 2002, the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence agreed to conduct a Joint Inquiry into the activities of the U.S. Intelligence Community in connection with the terrorist attacks perpetrated against our nation on September 11, 2001. This report (available as both S. Rept. 107-351 and H. Rept. 107-792) consists of 832 pages that presents the joint inquiry's findings and conclusions, an accompanying narrative, and a series of recommendations.

gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/911

Members included Nancy Pelosi.

gpoaccess.gov/serialset/creports/pdf/members.pdf

Again checking Lindsay Graham's record of service, only Bob Graham's name appears. I mistakenly read the article. Apparently there are two senators with the last name of Graham. These senators don't make it easy having the same last name.

Looking over Lindsay Graham's bio, there was no mention of the intelligence committee.

So I was incorrect in stating that Lindsay Graham's statements supported Nancy Pelosi's, as it was Bob Graham's words that agreed with hers. Sorry for the confusion.

And the Washington Post has this to offer today.

voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2009/05/pelosi_up_a_tree

voices.washingtonpost.com/capitol-briefing/2009/05/cia_says_pelosi_was_briefed_on

Edited May 15, 2009 by eternal light

[eternal light]

waffle house, from the daily show

That was good, Uncle Bill.

Jane Harman did better than Nancy Pelosi in objecting.

I understand though that Nancy Pelosi was sworn to secrecy, which explains why she is reticent to comment.

But Jonathan Edwards on the Daily Show clip makes a good point that Senator Nancy Pelosi could have requested to sign the letter of protest to Scott Muller, General Counsel of the CIA authored by Representative Jane Harman.

[Friedix]