Pelosi Clears Bush Of Wrongdoing
May 11, 2009 Political
Nancy Pelosi has stated on several occasions that she was informed of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EIT) but that she was never told that they had been used. Pelosi received her information during classified briefings and she no doubt believed that the secrecy would protect her.
Unfortunately for her, Barack Obama released classified memos of detailed legal opinions rendered by Bush administration lawyers. Those memos were extremely detailed and laid out the legal justification for the EITs including the opinion that they were within the boundaries established in the law passed by Congress.
The CIA was not particularly thrilled with the release of the memos because that act gave our enemies information about how we do business. The CIA was also not pleased with all the talk of people being prosecuted. In order to set the record straight the CIA released its own memos detailing the classified briefings. Those memos as well as the statements by others in attendance clearly show that Pelosi was briefed not only on the EITs but that they had been used. These memos contradict her denials and demonstrate that she lied.
Pelosi has now taken a new tact with regard to this issue. Continued denial is pointless so Pelosi is now asserting that the lawyers told her it was legal:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Friday that she was briefed only once about the “enhanced” interrogation techniques being used on terrorism suspects and that she was assured by lawyers with the CIA and the Department of Justice that the methods were legal. Fox News
Her statement now clears Bush administration officials of any wrong doing because they too were told by the lawyers that the EITs were legal. When Pelosi wanted to go after Bush she was content lying to the public and accusing him of wrongdoing but now she is saying that she did no wrong because the lawyers said it was OK. This means that everyone who followed the legal opinion is in the clear.
Another important issue is the lawyers themselves. They gave a well reasoned legal opinion and should not be prosecuted for interpreting the law to the best of their ability. If these folks are made scapegoats for rendering an opinion (one I happen to agree with) then this will leave the door open to prosecute all lawyers that render an opinion that turns out to be unpopular.
We have a judicial system where courts decide if laws are Constitutional. If anyone had questions about the legality of the opinion rendered then they could have taken the issue to the courts and had the courts decide. Since no one did that it is reasonable to assume that those who were briefed were comfortable with the legal opinion.
Obama opened a Pandora’s Box when he released the Bush legal memos. His decision to do so was politically motivated and his desire was to shed bad light on the Bush administration. Unfortunately for him and his party, Nancy Pelosi got caught in the crossfire.
Obama can claim the EITs were torture but the legal opinion is that they were not. Until a court decides on the issue or until Congress changes the law, they are still legal.
However, Obama did not want to take the chance that a court would confirm the legality so he released the memos which effectively killed the program.
Doing that was bad enough but if he had never mentioned prosecuting people Pelosi would not have been caught in the lie and Democrats would not look like the hypocrites we know them to be.
Rookie in the White House making rookie mistakes. Those unintended consequences will come back to bite him over and over because he does not know what he is doing.
For you people in San Francisco, Pelosi lied and played politics on this issue. She pretended to be against this and not to know of it when she knew all about it and was in favor of it.
It is time to show her the door.
Others:
Instapundit | Mudville Gazette
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Can You Botox a Brain?
May 8, 2009 Political
Nancy Pelosi is still trying to walk back, re- define, parse her words, and find out just what the definition of the word “is” is, apparently, all regarding her knowledge of enhanced interrogations and when she knew about them.
Her behavior in attempting to explain, reminds me of some conversations I had with my daughter when she was sixteen, and rebelling against authority. There would be vociferous denials, after which, in excruciating slowness, the truth would finally emerge, in detail contrary to her earlier protestations. Now, my daughter has thankfully matured, and grown a set of brains that I am proud of, and even she would shake her head at the juvenile antics of the Speaker of the House, our number three in line, behind (shudder) Biden, and of course, our supreme leader, Barama the Mouth.
That she can blame this fiasco on her leader is just poetic justice, because Barama released the selected memos to keep embarrassing former President Bush, and so people wouldn’t realize that he was stealing the country, but in the process, the law of unintended consequences surfaced, and ensnared Pelosi in her blatant lies and medication induced ramblings.
Peter Goss, the then House Intelligence Committee Chairman, and later CIA chief officer, was briefed at the same time, and says that they were specifically told that water boarding was used against Abu Zubaydah, who was one of three prisoners subjected to these methods. She WAS told- now, if she was so drunk, or medicated that she didn’t remember, she should just say so and be done with it, but to be as blatantly hypocritical as to know in 2002 that water boarding was used, and not say a thing, then to now, in 2009, shrilly call for a “truth” commission ( a rather communistic reference, huh?), is so blatantly two faced, I have to wonder which one she applies makeup to in the mornings.
I have always wondered just how she got the power to be speaker of the House- it couldn’t be brains, as we have noted, so there must be another reason. No, I do not think she went all Monica Lewinsky on her fellow members of the House- the screams would be heard across the Mississippi, but perhaps she employed some sort of extortionate method, because, lets face it- she is not smart enough to do this on her own, nor is she, I believe, conscious enough half the time.
Now, here’s the deal- she isn’t the only liberal who lies like a prostitute in the headlights- the list is legion, and I find it beyond any words I have to describe how clueless and in locked goose step the left is. Nan’s lies won’t bother her base, for they are just as dishonest as she, with their mantra, “The ends justify the means”.
No- character counts, and the vast majority of the American people will see through this farce that liberalism is, and the blowback from the accumulated lies from Barama, Dodd, Pelosi, Reid, Murtha, Conyers, Waters, and others will come back to bite them in the butt.
I will look forward to a “Truth Commission” of our own, when we regain power in 2010. I know this will be a full time job, due to the sheer amount of lies, but it will be so satisfying, and like they say Mz. Speaker-
Payback- like you, is a bitch.
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Tags: justice, lies, Pelosi, waterboarding
Pelosi Lied About Knowledge Of Interrogation Techniques
May 8, 2009 Political
Nancy Pelosi was for waterboarding before she was against it. The Speaker of the House has maintained that she only knew that the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques had been deemed legal by the Bush legal folks but that she never knew they were actually used. Pelosi has railed against the techniques and those who used them in her continued efforts to discredit the Bush administration.
The reality is, Pelosi was briefed on the techniques AND that they had been used.
In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics. Then the ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, respectively, Pelosi and Goss were briefed Sept. 4, 2002, one week before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The memo, issued by the Director of National Intelligence and the Central Intelligence Agency to Capitol Hill, notes the Pelosi-Goss briefing covered “EITs including the use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah.” EIT is an acronym for enhanced interrogation technique. Zubaydah was one of the earliest valuable al-Qaeda members captured and the first to have the controversial tactic known as water boarding used against him. Washington Post [emphasis mine]
The memo clearly indicates that Pelosi knew more than she admits. It would be reasonable to assume she could not reveal the classified information but her denials of any knowledge indicates she is lying about it. She could have easily stated that she cannot discuss what she hears in classified briefings but chose instead to lie.
The memos were released by intelligence officials and I believe they did so to protect people from prosecution. Pelosi and her ilk want blood but the memos are a way to say that if anyone goes down Pelosi must go with them.
This might be because Obama has ticked off the intelligence community by releasing the classified documents with the detailed legal opinion on EITs. The release clearly demonstrated that a well thought legal opinion was rendered deeming the techniques legal however, the release also told our enemies what we do and gave them information on how they can beat enhanced interrogation. This really ticked off the intelligence people.
This is what happens when a rookie in the White House tries to undermine our intelligence efforts. The intelligence community can make him look like a great man or a goat.
Pelosi is already looking bad and it will not be long before Obama is a goat as well.
Others:
Stop the ACLU
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Tags: CIA, memos, Obama, Pelosi, waterboarding
Around The Horn
Mar 11, 2009 Political
Oh no, the North Koreans are on alert
Looks like the North Koreans have their Commie panties in a wad because the US and South Korea are going to be involved in joint military training exercises. These exercises have taken place in the past but now the NORKS are on high alert and worried about being attacked. Perhaps they are a little uneasy because the Navy indicated it was ready to shoot down the NORK missile (satellite) if it appeared threatening. Maybe this is the test Biden warned about…
The NORKS have shut off communications with the UN and the million or so members of the military are on high alert.
The Plan: The US and South Korea should find a way to extend the training exercise for a month or so. The North Koreans have no fuel for their planes and it is assumed the same is true for their land based vehicles. They are dirt poor and a month of spending on military alert could probably push them over the edge. We could put an end to them without firing a shot. [Breitbart]
Botox Airlines
After 9/11 the president decided that the Speaker of the House should use a military aircraft to travel from DC to the home district, if one was available. Nancy Pelosi has extended that to mean the US Air Force is her personal air taxi service. Pelosi requests a bigger plane with a few more luxuries. When one is not available she gets upset and evidently her aide in charge of booking them wants the Air Force to explain why the wicked witch of the west does not have a plane.
The key is the phrase “when available.” If one is not available then Pelosi does not get one. It is quite simple. But it is tough because she has the Air Force ferry her and her family all over the place.
She said she required a bigger plane so that she would not have to stop for fuel on the way home. I suggest a long range bomber. They will fly for a long time and they could put Pelosi’s seat right above the bomb bay doors…[Fox News]
Who is Arlen Specter trying to fool?
Senator Arlen Specter is worried about losing his seat in the next election. The fact that he is still in office is one of the things I hold against George Bush. Bush campaigned for him and helped him win when he should have been booted out. Specter is a RINO and sides with the Democrats rather than his own party. He was one of only 3 Republicans to vote for the TRILLION dollar stimulus bill. He needs to go.
He knows that his name is mud and he is starting early in his reelection bid. In an interview he chastised Michael Steele for apologizing to Rush Limbaugh and then claimed that he [Specter] was trying to lead the Republican party. He said that he was trying to lead from the middle where the American people want to be led from. Specter also took a shot at his likely opponent.
This man is a moron. Americans do not want to be led from the center. Conservatives want to be led by people who hold conservative values. This half baked retard has not figured out that the reason that Democrats won was because Republicans became too much like them. Some Republican voters figured if they were going to have liberal policies they might as well vote for liberals and others just stayed home.
We cannot win by trying to be like them. Perhaps Specter has not seen the light yet but Republicans rejected that idea.
Specter is NO leader. There is a saying that you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink it.
Specter couldn’t even lead the horse to the water.
The people of Pennsylvania need to get rid of this moron in the next election. [WILK]
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Tags: air force, biden, Democrats, north korea, Obama, Pelosi, Republicans, specter
Why Does Stimulus Vote Surprise People?
Feb 13, 2009 Political
Not the fact that Democrats are voting for a bill that is loaded with special interests and will do little to help the economy. No, why are people surprised they voted FOR something that they have not read and do not know about completely. These people supported Barack Obama. They voted for him even though he was not vetted and his troubles were ignored or covered up by the media. They voted FOR him without knowing much about him.
The whole stimulus plan is a sham. The bill, in its final form, was more than 1000 pages (earlier reports indicated it was nearly 1500) and it was distributed at 2300 last night. There is no way that anyone could have read the entire thing in that little bit of time. I hope that someone slipped in a provision for all Democrats and the three traitorous Republicans to resign and for Obama to have to provide a birth certificate. That would be absolutely hilarious. Obama wants to sign it Monday and you can bet he will not be able to read the entire thing before then. It does not matter because he is only interested in spending, not actually producing results.
Look at what we have in this mess:
- The bill passed with all but 7 Democrats voting for it and all but 2 Republicans voting against it. The 2 Republicans did not vote. This means that all who voted for it voted for something that they have not read and do not know.
- The bill was touted as one that provides tens of thousands of jobs even though no one has read it. No one knows what it includes or what it will do because they have not read it. In fact, one Congressman said they voted with one hand and crossed the fingers on the other. This is not leadership and it shows that even though they claim that something must be done now and that the bill is good, they don’t know.
- The so called administration of transparency has broken a campaign promise to post bills on the web 5 days before they are voted on so that the public can view them. The Democrats promised the bill would be posted on the internet for 48 hours before it was voted on. That did not happen. Does it surprise anyone that they broke their word? Nancy Pelosi needs to get out of town for her taxpayer paid vacation in Rome. She will have a few meetings while she is there.
- A Senator has predicted that none of his colleagues will have had the chance to read the bill before they vote on it. This is irresponsible. The Democrats in the Senate will vote for it and they have not read it. They are just like their House partners in crime.
- Barack Obama said that the lobbyists needed to be taken out of the process. He campaigned on changing DC and the politics as usual. The bill was on K Street in the hands of the lobbyists before staffers got it. The lobbyists had to go over it and make sure none of the payback they demanded had been left out. They had to ensure all the special interests were addressed. They had to ensure they knew what was in the trough they will be feeding from.
I have only read portions of the bill but from the lists I have seen it contains nothing but pet projects and items from the liberal wish list. It will not reduce the unemployment rate (I believe the extension of unemployment benefits is designed to make the numbers go up so the Dems can claim they are doing a good job when the numbers go down next year. It will be an election year) as FDR saw when he did the same things. The unemployment rate varied little under him and his plans and only went down markedly when the US entered WW II.
Barack Obama is unable to see this and his explanation for the failure under FDR is that he did not spend enough. Well one thing is certain. This bill spends enough. If it works and things get better then Obama can say he was right and if things get worse then we will know the real truth. Should that happen, Obama will say he did not spend enough and needs even more money.
The CBO says that the situation will improve by the second half of this year even if Congress does not spend one cent on the problem. That is what happens in recessions. Things get bad and then they get better all on their own. Government intervention makes things worse and prolongs the problem. FDR and Carter proved that. The reason Democrats are rushing this bill through is so that they can get their pet projects passed before the economy improves on its own. Once the economy improves they will not be able to use it and fear to get what they want. Obama is not letting this crisis go to waste…
If the economy begins to recover on its own the Dems will claim credit for the improvement. However, I think that the infusion of borrowed money will prolong the recession and things will not get better for quite some time. History shows us this will happen.
Spending money we do not have is a problem and up until this year Democrats were screaming about the deficit under Bush. They said it was irresponsible to run up a huge deficit (though they had done so in all the years past) and that we needed to get it under control. Obama entered office and all that went out the window even though he was one of the folks who leveled criticism at Bush.
Pelosi is off to Europe and the bill is heading to the Senate. Not one of the people elected to run the country has read it and yet they voted for it.
This is not leadership. It is a dereliction of duty.
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Tags: bill, chimps, huge spending, irresponsible, massive bill, Obama, Pelosi, pet projects, pork, Rome, spending, trip