Pelosi and Torture

'“The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists,” Goss wrote. “I do not recall a single objection from my colleagues.”

Pelosi dismissed such criticism, telling reporters the 2002 briefing was strictly classified, and she was hamstrung from raising objections with officials or even sharing information with other lower-ranking committee members.'

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0409/21724_Page2.html

Nancy Pelosi, a bird-like woman with a permanently surprised look on her face, always comes across to me as someone not just promoted above her level of competence, but promoted WAY above her level of competence. Watch this video of her 'answering' questions about her knowledge of the use by US agents of waterboarding. Its funny AND sad. I'm not sure whether she has the same lawyer as Bill Clinton, but it comes across as about as convincingly as 'I never had sexual relations with that woman'.

Question: the CIA asked legal counsel whether waterboarding constituted torture or not. What did Nancy Pelosi think they wanted to know that for?

Somebody somewhere has the minutes of that briefing. Ms Pelosi better hope they are still classified.

But its the 'she was hamstrung from raising objections with officials' that made me laugh out loud. Democrats in the CIA spent most of the last four years leaking stories to the press in the hope of making the Bush Presidency look bad. Remember Valerie Plame and the Yellow cake? She got outed because she used her position in a completely corrupt way, for political mischief-making. Sadly for her, that was a double-edged sword. But there was nothing poor little ranking member of the Intelligence Committee Pelosi could do about this 'nightmare'? Not even one teensy weensy quiet word to the right journo?

Yeah, she didn't do that because in 2002 everybody wanted those bastards tortured. Its only now, in hindsight that the political benefits of being against the 'torture' seem so attractive, that Ms Pelosi has realised that she was never complicit in the waterboarding decision-making. Pathetic. Nobody will believe her. But its part of a much wider attempt by the Dems to whitewash their behaviour from 2001/2002, when they got on board with all sorts of thing they now wish they'd been against. "Hey, lets invade Afghanistan!". "Well, alrighty then!". "Hey, lets torture the high-level Al Qaeda people we capture!". "Sure, seems like a plan!". "Hey, Saddams a festering scab with dangerous friends. Lets invade!". "Like your thinking, he IS dangerous!". And so it goes...