Speaker Pelosi’s press conference was a stunner (transcript here).
“… Like all members of Congress who are briefed on classified information, I have assigned oaths pledges not to disclose any of that information. This is an oath I have taken very seriously, and I’ve always abided by it. The CIA briefed me only once on enhanced interrogation techniques in September 2002 in my capacity as ranking member of the Intelligence Committee. I was informed then that the Department of Justice opinions had concluded that the use of enhanced interrogation techniques were legal. The only mention of waterboarding at that briefing was that it was not being employed. Those conducting the briefing promised to inform the appropriate members of Congress if that technique were to be used in the future. …”
Now the trouble for Republicans is that she’s not playing along. Not only has she upped the ante, but she’s driven the narrative back to Iraq, Bush’s lies right before that election, and what Bush and Cheney were doing to drive this country to war. That the foundation of Bush-Cheney foreign policy was lies and distraction. It’s what is at the center of all the dust currently being kicked up.
“This is a diversionary tactic, to take the spotlight off of those who conceived, developed, and implemented these policies, which all of us [Democratic leaders] opposed,” (Pelosi) said. “Understand — this is their policy, all of them.”
The story began with Bush-Cheney getting a lot of heat on EIT, fresh off the release of the OLC memos. So much heat that Dick Cheney blasted on to a media torture tour, with his daughter batting clean-up. The job was to make sure everyone understood how important torture was to the Bush administration, but also that what they did was legal; and to mark the moment Obama dismantled the program to make us “less safe.” Oh, and because it was legal it wasn’t torture. In the sense that Bush and Cheney had lawyers distort the law through creatively written legalistic memos, which were intended as cover for the Administration.
In the midst of the Cheney torture tour, someone decides they need another target, a Democrat, someone who they believe is a good focus to shift the blame, if not totally, then to say top Democrats knew about the torture policies and approved. They choose Pelosi, because she was briefed in 2002.
Then the Republican machine gears into the action of distraction.
We don’t know how this will end, but one thing is clear. Republicans might have made a fatal error in stirring Pelosi’s ire. If they’re trying to keep a Truth Commission from gearing up they just screwed up. They went after Speaker Pelosi without the goods to get her. Now she’s mad as hell and isn’t in the mood to suffer fools.
Comments are closed.