Torture battle escalating, Pelosi vs. Boehner »

Posted By jovial 7 months, 1 week ago in News

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President Obama opened a big can of worms by releasing the torture memos last week that the administration today sought to close with little success. nstead, a full-blown battle has opened between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and her GOP counterpart, Ohio's John Boehner about how much top Congressional leaders knew about water boarding in 2002. It is being fueled in part by a timeline released by the Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by another California Democrat, Dianne Feinstein.

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jovial

Grew up In Brooklyn. Joined the Navy in 1976 stayed in 10 years. Aircraft Electronics tech. Worked for Major Govt. contractor then settled in California ...

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  • 94%
    jovial7 months, 1 week ago

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    A wall St. journal article is circulating around in the conservative blogosphere saying House speaker Nancy Pelosi knew about torture since 2002 and did nothing to try to stop it. Is this just just a pot of crabs trying to hold on to anything that they can grab on to. Nancy Pelosi addresses these questions and denies knowing anything at all about waterboarding actually being implemented. You decide.

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    berkeley7 months, 1 week ago

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    from the past, we know that boehner has zero credibility. but as it happens, pelosi also has zero. i wouldn't trust either of them about anything.

    this is going to be fun. who can lie more? who can yell louder?

    you did!

    i did not!

    it's really difficult to bet on pelosi.

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    Spadecaller7 months, 1 week ago

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    "I know nothiiiiiiiiiing!" Those were the words of the amicable weak-minded Nazi from the old TV show called Hogans Heroes, who was always afraid he was going to be caught in his incompetence as a prison guard.

    Yup... nobody knows a thing. Yet our nation invaded another country without justification and has been in the business of torturing prisoners in secret detention centers around the world and at Gitmo. But nobody knows anything.

    I suspect that there is more than enough guilt on both sides of the aisle that they are all hoping Obama can make it all go away for them.

    Career politicians do not give up their cherished positions with grace and dignity. If necessary, they will usually lie right down to the bitter end.

    I do not know if Pelosi is telling the truth; but I will never forget that it did not take her long to become palsy-walsy with George Bush just after she became the Speaker of the House -- and all her election promises evaporated on the spot.

    I clearly remember her starry-eyed stare into the prestigious void of the politically elite that her new position had brought her.

    Her swift abandonment of her campaign promises leave me with a unsettling feeling; is she really telling the truth?

    "I know nothiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing" I can hear the obese Nazi soldier pleading for everyone to leave him alone. I hear that same message echoing loudly in the halls of Washington. Nobody knows anything. Please leave us along. Yeah right!

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    CHAM7 months, 1 week ago

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    What is sad is this is what we are showing to the world as our leaders. Both knew years ago that torture was occurring, that people were being tortured to death, and that the torture wasn't getting any viable information.

    Water boarded some people more than 200 times? Why? Cause they didn't give all the info on number 199? Utter BS. They did it because they were sadistic.

    I first knew about detainees being tortured to death at least 3 or 4 years ago, the first I knew of was Manadel Al Jamidi on Nov 4th 2003 by Navy Seals and Mercenaries at Abu Gharib. The soldier who reported the torture at Abu Gharib has had his life threatened and the two Generals who outed the torture have been dumped.

    And it went on from there. Thousands of people have been tortured. The vast majority were innocent of anything. This is why we now have a problem in the Middle East. Those people don't look kindly on the United States.

    In Afghanistan the Taliban offered to give up Bin Laden - before the invasion. In Iraq Saddam Hussein offered to go into exile prior to the invasion of Iraq.

    Why did we invade anybody? And kill a million or more. And displace five million. And bankrupt our nation. Over 4,000 American soldiers died for nothing. Except to enshrine the Republican hero George Bush. The destroyer of our Democracy.

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    bbalden7 months, 1 week ago

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    It's pretty hard to stomach the partisan jockeying that passes for representation these days. Fact is that Speaker Pelosi took impeachment - of possibly the most impeachable president in history - off the table the day she was named Speaker. If it is the sole Constitutional responsibility of Congress to impeach, I say that most of the majority Democratic Congress disregarded their oaths as surely as the profiteering gang in the White House. Both parties are part and parcel of every predicament we now find ouselves in. It's time to demand candor and accountability from every one of those who act in our collective names.

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    CHAM7 months, 1 week ago

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    Yes they are both complicit. And they are going to remain that way until we prosecute people for their crimes.

    Fergie says Bush didn't take up the Saddam offer to go into exile because he wanted him dead. I believe there's a lot of truth to that. But I think the overpowering reason was so that Bush minions and Bush's boss wanted the profits that a war would bring to the elites.

    What it all boils down to is that the war was waged to profit a few at the expense of the many. When Israel bombed the Baghdad Reactor I did some research and found that the only weapons grade uranium that Iraq had was 17 lbs. They had yellow cake to run the reactor and after the Iraqi war this yellowcake was sold to Canada and presented to the public as proof positive that Saddam had a Nuclear Program. It was just a bunch of road apples. That yellow cake wouldn't make a bomb in the next thousand years and Bush and Rumsfelt knew it.

    But that was back when Saddam was our Buddy. The U S was flying high with the Shah dictating over Iran and Saddam doing same of Iraq.

    But things have a way of changing. Good always wins out in the long run. We don't ever need to forget that.

    As Eisenhower said, "America is Great because America is Good, if American ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be Great."

    Wise man that Republican. Yep the GOP ain't what it used to be.

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      Jeboba7 months, 1 week ago

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      We started losing our moral compass as a nation in 1980 with the election of Ronald Reagan. A HORRIBLE President who deregulated everything and gave the farm to the wealthiest. And yet the cons idiolize the POS! They are just sheep, easily led by anybody that can talk tough and put on a good act rather than by thoughtful leaders.

      And Gingrich thinks he can run for President? I guess he should. It will finally shut him up when he gets less than 1% of the vote. Gingrich is a hateful derisive little man that started the rancorous and hateful partisanship on the hill!

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      bbalden7 months, 1 week ago

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      I take offense to the notion that we - as Americans have lost our moral compass. The people that I know, and - for the most part - the people that I pass on the street, I really believe are good, caring and generous people. I'll say it again. Americans are too sheepish to demand true representation and accountability of their elected officials. Well, I'll tell you who does demand reresentation. Corporate America. And it's only because corporate lobbies have chosen happily to fill the void that we leave for them. The sooner we demand what WE expect of our elected representation, the sooner we'll get it.

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      cloud157 months, 1 week ago

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      Now that the memos are out and we have factual evidence against people cases should be brought forth. If it means a complete overhaul of our government representatives so be it. Anyone who approved of torture does not deserve to represent we the people.

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        Will13137 months, 1 week ago

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        above discussions mention impeachment and it being taken off the table....

        possibly for good reason....

        now...

        you can have criminal prosecutions.. while the person you're going to prosecute .. doesn't have access or the authority to destroy evidence.. all the records are sealed and in possession of the national archives ..

        it's possible that they might find some of those "missing" e-mails..

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          rookb7 months, 1 week ago

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          Suonds like the Republican leader was knowledgable and complicit and the (seldom informed at the time) Democrat Pelosi did not know.
          Bohner is an idiot, constantly grandstanding with little or false facts.
          All of the instigators of torture should be convicted and in prison. We The USA have convicted Japenese and German war criminals for the EXACT THINGS. What was a crime then is still a crime now. The precident had been set.
          I listened to Cheny the other day as he tried to justify the programs that the torture took place in. If ther was nothing wrong with it, why didn't he speak out when the guards of Abu Grabe Prison were sent to jail for carrying out these programs. He allowed others to go to prison and be ruined while he kept qiiet and hid behind the brave enlisted men and women of the armed services. Honor should not be resereved for the "Boots on the Ground" it should have beeen a part of the Bush's Administration goals, sadly there was no honor shown by the "Commander in Cheif". Thank god he's gone, let his shame never be forgotten.
          If we prosecute those that started the torture as a standard procedure idiom, then the world will start to see the USA as the honorable and just country we once were.

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            worldwarrior27 months, 1 week ago

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            I see, Cheney has got his daughter on the talk show circuit trying to save his worthless ass from prison or the gallows. Torture is torture, no gray area's. Cheney and the rest of the Bu$h regime cronies should be prosecuted for waging a War of Aggresion against Iraq too. Remember the Nuremburg Trials at the end of WWII? We help establish that law to convict Germany leaders. So now, we are telling the world, U.S. leaders are ABOVE Intl. law. Do as we say, not as we do. Hypocritical, to say the least. Expect the Repubs, to spin, lie and deceive, to protect their own.

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            • 10%
              Klarissa7 months, 1 week ago

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              still bringing up the Bush administration, so that no attention is paid to the current administration.

              Great propaganda efforts.

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            • 86%
              cowboygrandpa7 months, 1 week ago

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              Pelosi is a joke along with the other jokes. Boehner has no morals or conscience.
              So what do we have a joker and a sociopath. Hmmmmmmm

              Prety much describes those we have in positions of power today.

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                Natureboy7 months, 1 week ago

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                Well, at least she's just up against a single Boehner and not a whole Dick Armey.

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                worldwarrior27 months, 1 week ago

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                Cheney's reign of torture began in C. America during the 1980's Reagan/Bu$h illegal wars in the region to prop up wealthy brutal right-wing dictatorships and death squads. A CIA torture manual was produced by Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ollie North to be used on poor, uneducated, innocent peasants to scare them from serving in the ranks of liberation movements and to substract info. It didn't work then and it doesn't work now. Socialist gov't are now back in power in the region after Capitalism proved to be a complete failure regarding lifting the living standards of the masses. Anyway, Cheney and his bunch we're never tried as war criminal then, so they thought they could get away with it again in Iraq and Afghanistan. We shall see if our politicians have developed a backbone to prosecute over the last thirty years. Cheney and his cohorts, think not.

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                  worldwarrior27 months, 1 week ago

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                  Prosecute the Bu$h regime for waging a War of Aggression against Iraq. German leaders were prosecuted for that at the Nuremburg Trials after WWII. The U.S. helped produced those laws, our leaders have broke. Are U.S. leaders above the law?

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                    worldwarrior27 months, 1 week ago

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                    The newly released photo's of the naked Afghan detainee's proves once again American's enjoy degrading others and we are a society of sick degenerates. America is no longer a nation of humane, compassioate people.

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                      php8207 months, 1 week ago

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                      No now we are a nation that pat terrorist on the back. Really sad. I guess 9/11 has been forgotten.

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                      injest7 months, 1 week ago

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                      Nancy Pelosi addresses these questions and denies knowing anything at all about waterboarding actually being implemented. You decide.

                      Tough call. If the claim is “Nancy Pelosi denies knowing anything at all” I would have to say its true.

                      However once this claim IS put INTO CONTEXT

                      “Nancy Pelosi addresses these questions and denies knowing anything at all about waterboarding actually being implemented”

                      I’d have to say she is lying.

                      This is real a simple question to prove, all Obama has to do is the Director of National Intelligence give a list of who attended these virtual tour/ info session when and where.

                      Oh and also how much “Ice Tea” they were drinking.

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                      brokebud037 months, 1 week ago

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                      Tell Nancy Pelosi to **** off, It's people like her that give our country a bad name, all she is doing shooting off with the mouth.

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                        lloydm657 months, 1 week ago

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                        Torture,I see no torture,let me see some x-rays i'd to compare them to John MaCains,and Sam Johnsons.Mutable fracture to the arms,and legs.

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                          Tcaros7 months, 1 week ago

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                          Here's the old Republican trick: If they were breaking the laws then "everyone else knew about it", right? Wrong!

                          The Republicans are trying the same "straw man" argument here. This is how they work it: accuse the other part of doing what you did.

                          Won't work Mr. Boehner.

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                            injest7 months, 1 week ago

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                            “Nancy Pelosi addresses these questions and denies knowing anything at all about waterboarding actually being implemented. You decide.”

                            jovial

                            “Well as the story unfolds we will see. The problem is as i see it, who directed it to be implemented. The whole world knew that it was being implemented, (at least all the progressives i know did)”

                            So what “world” is Nancy Pelosi in?

                            She claims she did not know.

                            BTW the article is NOT about “implemented it”. The article is about WHO KNEW it was being done in 2002 onward.
                            Who approved it.
                            Who in Congress BOTH knew about it AND allowed it.

                            Remember the Dems controlled the Senate 2001 to 2003

                            I predict before the weekend is out Obama will again flip-flop on this issue again.

                            I would like to know who asked “if the methods were tough enough”.

                            The methods, including Waterboarding were “tough enough”

                            25% chance it was Pelosi
                            50% chance that question came from a Democrat.
                            And a 100% reality that they knew (as you say you did) that Waterboarding was being done.

                            "Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002
                            In Meetings, Spy Panels' Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say
                            By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen
                            Washington Post Staff Writers
                            Sunday, December 9, 2007; Page A01"

                            "In fairness, the environment was different then because we were closer to Sept. 11 and people were still in a panic," said one U.S. official present during the early briefings. "But there was no objecting, no hand-wringing. The attitude was, 'We don't care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.' "
                            U.S. law requires the CIA to inform Congress of covert activities and allows the briefings to be limited in certain highly sensitive cases to a "Gang of Eight," including the four top congressional leaders of both parties as well as the four senior intelligence committee members. In this case, most briefings about detainee programs were limited to the "Gang of Four," the top Republican and Democrat on the two committees. A few staff members were permitted to attend some of the briefings"

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                              injest7 months, 1 week ago

                              This comment is below the standard viewing threshold View It »

                              “Nancy Pelosi addresses these questions and denies knowing anything at all about waterboarding actually being implemented. You decide.”

                              jovial

                              “Well as the story unfolds we will see. The problem is as i see it, who directed it to be implemented. The whole world knew that it was being implemented, (at least all the progressives i know did)”

                              So what “world” is Nancy Pelosi in?

                              She claims she did not know.

                              BTW the article is NOT about “implemented it”. The article is about WHO KNEW it was being done in 2002 onward.
                              Who approved it.
                              Who in Congress BOTH knew about it AND allowed it.

                              Remember the Dems controlled the Senate 2001 to 2003

                              I predict before the weekend is out Obama will again flip-flop on this issue again.

                              I would like to know who asked “if the methods were tough enough”.

                              The methods, including Waterboarding were “tough enough”

                              25% chance it was Pelosi
                              50% chance that question came from a Democrat.
                              And a 100% reality that they knew (as you say you did) that Waterboarding was being done.

                              "Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002
                              In Meetings, Spy Panels' Chiefs Did Not Protest, Officials Say
                              By Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen
                              Washington Post Staff Writers
                              Sunday, December 9, 2007; Page A01"

                              "In fairness, the environment was different then because we were closer to Sept. 11 and people were still in a panic," said one U.S. official present during the early briefings. "But there was no objecting, no hand-wringing. The attitude was, 'We don't care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.' "
                              U.S. law requires the CIA to inform Congress of covert activities and allows the briefings to be limited in certain highly sensitive cases to a "Gang of Eight," including the four top congressional leaders of both parties as well as the four senior intelligence committee members. In this case, most briefings about detainee programs were limited to the "Gang of Four," the top Republican and Democrat on the two committees. A few staff members were permitted to attend some of the briefings"

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