Torture Investigation Now Inevitable

Commentary By Ron Beasley

I don't know if Nancy Pelosi will be able to save her job but she has all but guarantied an investigation.

Speaker's Comments Raise Detainee Debate to New Level

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's extraordinary accusation that the Bush administration lied to Congress about the use of harsh interrogation techniques dramatically raised the stakes in the growing debate over the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies even as it raised some questions about the speaker's credibility.

Pelosi's performance in the Capitol was either a calculated escalation of a long-running feud with the Bush administration or a reckless act by a politician whose word had been called into question. Perhaps it was both.

For the first time, Pelosi (D-Calif.) acknowledged that in 2003 she was informed by an aide that the CIA had told others in Congress that officials had used waterboarding during interrogations. But she insisted, contrary to CIA accounts, that she was not told about waterboarding during a September 2002 briefing by agency officials. Asked whether she was accusing the CIA of lying, she replied, "Yes, misleading the Congress of the United States."

Lying to congress is a crime and so Pelosi's accusation is a game changer.

 

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

One one expect the Republicans to attack Pelosi but the media is guilty of taking sides as well.

 

Whichever side of the torture debate you’re on, it’s a simple matter of fact that Nancy Pelosi’s claims about what she was told and when about torture are getting far more intense media scrutiny than the CIA’s claims are.

Simple fairness demands that both side’s claims get treated with a similar level of skepticism. And they’re not.

Multiple news accounts this morning report that Pelosi’s credibility is in question after yesterday’s press conference, in which she accused the CIA of lying about what they told members of Congress about the agency’s use of torture. This theme was sounded by MSNBC, WaPo’s Dan Balz, the New York Times write-up, and many others.

That’s as it should be. But I challenge you to find a news account that stated with equal prominence that the CIA’s credibility is also in question.

So who's lying?  As Josh Marshall points out Pelosi supports a truth commision so she must think she will be vindicated.

Update

E.D. Kain gets to the truth about a "Truth Commision".

Of course neither the Democrats nor the Republicans actually want a truth commission.  They all just want to be properly postured when it becomes apparent that a truth commission is inevitable.

Which is similar to this comment by zenpundit:

"Pelosi supports a truth commision so she must think she will be vindicated."

Or she hopes the GOP will back off and we won't have one.

Pelosi's likely lying through her teeth on this issue as the CIA managers loathed the Bush administration and were not going to stick their necks out for the administration by hoodwinking the ranking member/next Speaker on an issue where they might go to jail.

Comments

[zenpundit]

"Pelosi supports a truth commision so she must think she will be vindicated."

Or she hopes the GOP will back off and we won't have one.

Pelosi's likely lying through her teeth on this issue as the CIA managers loathed the Bush administration and were not going to stick their necks out for the administration by hoodwinking the ranking member/next Speaker on an issue where they might go to jail.