CIA Director Leon Panetta - Pelosi received the truth »
Posted By pc25 5 months, 4 weeks ago in NewsCIA Director Leon Panetta challenged House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s accusations that the agency lied to her, writing a memo to his agents saying she received nothing but the truth.
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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Dick Morris: "It is in the best interest of the American people that" Pelosi "step down"
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http://mediamatters.org/clips/200905150003-
libsRfunnyComment removed: Hard Banned6 Replies
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mesodude5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Hiya, pc! Very cool of you to acknowledge that you trust Media Matters as a credible source. I'm sure everyone here will make a note of that. :-P
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Networks Ignored Panetta's Caveats About CIA Summary of Pelosi Briefing
During their May 14 reports on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) statements regarding what she was told in secret briefings about the CIA's use of waterboarding, each of the network evening newscasts pointed to CIA records describing a September 4, 2002, briefing that, according to NBC News' Kelly O'Donnell, "show Pelosi was given a description of the particular enhanced interrogation techniques that had been employed" on Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah. However, none of the reports noted that in a letter accompanying the documents, CIA Director Leon Panetta suggested the information in the documents may not be "an accurate summary of what actually happened," as blogger Greg Sargent noted a week ago.
On the CBS Evening News, justice and homeland security correspondent Bob Orr reported that "Pelosi was briefed ... on September 4, 2002," and that, "[a]ccording to CIA records, she was told about, quote, 'EITs [enhanced interrogation techniques] on Abu Zubaydah ... and a description of particular EITs that had been employed.' " Orr continued: "While the word 'waterboarding' was not used, the CIA's description of the meeting suggests Pelosi was told Zubaydah had been waterboarded." On ABC's World News, senior congressional correspondent Jonathan Karl reported: "Pelosi's words seem to directly contradict a declassified timeline of congressional briefings compiled by the CIA, which says Pelosi was told of the specific interrogation methods used on Zubaydah."
As Media Matters for America has documented, Panetta's letter, sent to House Intelligence Committee chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX), ranking member Peter Hoekstra (R-MI), and other congressional members, states that the information in the attached intelligence documents "is drawn from the past files of the CIA and represents MFRs [memorandums for the record] completed at the time and notes that summarized the best recollections" of individuals involved. Each letter also states that "[i]n the end, you and the Committee will have to determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what actually happened." From Panetta's letter:
This letter presents the most thorough information we have on dates, locations, and names of all Members of Congress who were briefed by the CIA on enhanced interrogation techniques. This information, however, is drawn from the past files of the CIA and represents MFRs completed at the time and notes that summarized the best recollections of those individuals. In the end, you and the Committee will have to determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what actually happened. We can make the MFRs available at CIA for staff review.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200905150004
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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http://hotair.com/archives/2009/05/15/wapo-you-kno...
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WaPo: You know, Pelosi may have a credibility problem-
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mesodude5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Wow, pc you surprised me. I had no idea you were so Progressive--reading Dana Milbank. Well, since you're way cooler than I thought, maybe you'd be interested in this item Dana Milbank of the WaPo wrote as well:
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* The Washington Post's Dana Milbank wrote of Fox News' involvement at the Washington, D.C., protest:
Those messages might explain why Fox News, though actively promoting the "tea party" protests for tax day, tried to argue that it was not behind yesterday's coast-to-coast events. But Fox News analyst Tobin Smith, who took the stage in Lafayette Square yesterday, evidently didn't get the memo. "On behalf of Fox News Channel," he told more than 500 mud-spattered demonstrators, "I want to say: Welcome to the Comedy Channel of America, Washington, D.C."
After a few preliminaries, he went into a Fox News commercial for anchor Glenn Beck. "Anybody watching Glenn?" he asked to cheers. "That was a shameless plug, wasn't it? Glenn says hello as well. He's out at another tea party." Indeed he was, as were Sean Hannity and Neil Cavuto.
A small group of counterdemonstrators, wearing ballgowns, tuxedoes and pig snouts, interrupted and were stripped of their signs. Smith seized the display as an opportunity to highlight the Fox News slogan. "You know what 'Fair and Balanced' means?" he asked. " 'Fair and Balanced' means we take our message and try to overcompensate for their lack of message." Smith left with instructions: "Keep watching Fox, will you?"
The theme was echoed in some of the homemade signs the demonstrators carried, including "Watch Fox News," "Thank You Fox News," and even a recommendation: "Move Glenn Beck to 7 PM."
http://mediamatters.org/research/200904160017 -
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cushi5 months, 3 weeks ago
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Maybe she does, but Dick Cheney has a worse one and so does anyone who believes a word coming out of any neocon's mouth! As for Leon Panetta, his mouth isn't a prayer book either! The CIA lies constantly - comes with the job description! Pardon me if I don't take his word over hers.
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Furthermore, this is nothing by another con smoke screen to take the heat off the two lawbreakers, the Dick and the Dork (GWB).
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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Pelousy Wins the Sergeant Schultz Award
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http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/2009/05/pelous...-
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mesodude5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Hola, pc! Another Media Matters article that I thought you'd like (since you respect Media Matters as a source--per your earlier message) ;-P
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The Rght's Tortured Shell Game
This week one thing became abundantly clear: Media conservatives want to talk about torture -- well, not really; they want to blame House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for failing to stop the Bush administration's torture policies. You know, the policies conservatives contend worked great to keep us safe. Have trouble following their logic? That's sort of the point -- a shell game is designed to confuse the audience, forcing members of it to select the wrong shell and lose whatever money they've thrown on the table. There's little difference between that curbside gambling and what we're seeing now from conservatives.
In the process of focusing on what Pelosi and other congressional Democrats knew about the Bush administration's use of harsh interrogation techniques, as the GOP has advocated, some in the media have ignored evidence that the Bush administration began using the tactics in question before briefing congressional Democrats, and that upon learning of the techniques in 2003, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee expressed concerns to the CIA, but did not have the authority to force a change. Indeed, according to a May 2005 Bush Justice Department memo, following the Bush administration's authorization of the harsh interrogation techniques, CIA officials used one of the most controversial techniques, waterboarding, on Al Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah in August 2002 -- before any congressional Democrats had been briefed on any of the tactics. According to the same Justice Department memo, CIA officials waterboarded Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in March 2003 -- after Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) had reportedly raised concerns to the CIA about the techniques in February 2003.
http://mediamatters.org/columns/200905150042
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Klarissa5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Words I like to hear:
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"We are an agency of high integrity, professionalism and dedication," Panetta said in the memo. "Our task is to tell it like it is — even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it."-
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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Nancy's own words coming back to haunt her
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBvUKe_OIEw&eur... -
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nostalgia5 months, 4 weeks ago
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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1 to 2 months The Dems will force her out. She is wounded and her credibility is shot........This problem will bog her down and inhibit her ability to implement the rest of Obama's agenda. The Dems will realize that soon enough and begin to force her out. Then the infighting begins. Those who want her out, those who dont. THE SHEER JOY and the dems fight and bicker amongst themselves as the wheels begin to come off the Obama Express........
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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A chain is as strong as the weakest link, and the weakest link has always been Pelosi. The Republicans know this and they will hammer away at hert incessantly. The Dems should have never touched this issue. Obama being the naive and inexperienced politician that he is, in an effort to appease the Far Left of his base thought that he could bring this up, CONTROL IT, and then smooth it over with that lawyerly Harvard mouth of his. He would have pandered to the Far Left, given them something, hung out some low level Bush attorneys to dry, taken the high moral superiority road and then proceed merrily on the path to SOCIALISM and ECONOMIC DISASTER. WRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!
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How ironic that it would be Cheney waxing his tail for him......... -
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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she won't be needing that 757 any more
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http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/02/pelosis_air_... -
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pc255 months, 4 weeks ago
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Pelosi's swan song
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcC7eDtYoFA&fea... -
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mesodude5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Democrats: CIA is out to get us
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Democrats charged Tuesday that the CIA has released documents about congressional briefings on harsh interrogation techniques in order to deflect attention and blame away from itself.
“I think there is so much embarrassment in some quarters [of the CIA] that people are going to try to shift some of the responsibility to others — that’s what I think,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.), who sat on the Senate Intelligence Committee and was briefed on interrogation techniques five times between 2006 and 2007.
Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat in the Senate, said he finds it “interesting” that a document detailing congressional briefings was released just as “some of the groups that have been responsible for these interrogation techniques were taking the most criticism.”
Asked whether the CIA was seeking political cover by releasing the documents, Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said: “Sure it is.”
The CIA has long been on the receiving end of harsh rebukes from Congress — on intelligence failures leading up to the war in Iraq, on secret prisons abroad and on the harsh interrogation techniques used on terrorism suspects. But with the release of records showing that it briefed members of Congress along the way, the CIA has effectively put lawmakers on the defensive.
Read more: "Democrats: CIA is out to get us - Manu Raju - POLITICO.com"
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0509/22439.ht... -
hefaa1Comment removed: Hard Banned
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Klarissa5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Obama has been making "declarations" then turning the whole thing over to Pelosi and Reid. Pelosi and Reid have not had a directions - so they have been doing it all on their own.
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I think that they must have been very fearful, because Obama never expresses an opinion until the legislation is out there and he can read the polls.
He has basically hung his best friend out to dry.-
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wtagg5 months, 4 weeks ago
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You don't think that Pelosi hasn't hung herself out? Wow, Obama is sure getting a lot of things done. He seems to have his hand in everything if I am to believe everyone. Never saw that coming, considering the lack of output as a senator.
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He's an administrative whirlwind.
Then again, maybe these politicians that do and say stupid things are responsible for their own actions. What does that say about those that elect them? Until that changes, we can only blame ourselves. -
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mesodude5 months, 4 weeks ago
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CIA Declines to Respond To Graham’s Charge That It Admitted Briefings Error ;-P
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As first noticed by Marcy Wheeler this morning, former Senate intelligence committee chairman Bob Graham (D-Fla.) went on the Brian Lehrer radio show and said the CIA has conceded to him that it made some errors in its account of which members of Congress were briefed when about "enhanced interrogation techniques." (You can hear what Graham said around the 4:30-4:55 minute mark.) That's the briefings timeline that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said was "misleading" today. Graham:
When I asked the CIA when was I briefed, they gave me four dates, two in April and two in September of '02. On three of the four occasions, when I consulted my schedule and my
notes, it was clear that no briefing had taken place, and the CIA eventually concurred in that. So their record keeping is a little bit suspect.
If Graham is telling the truth, then the CIA is aware of at least some errors in its congressional-briefings timeline, which gives an additional layer of meaning to Director Leon Panetta's statement that "in the end, you and the Committee will have to determine whether this information is an accurate summary of what actually happened." And if Graham is right about identifying three errors, it raises the question about whether there are other errors, and if CIA will update its account of the congressional briefings.
The question might be raised, but it's not answered. I asked CIA spokesman George Little whether Graham is telling the truth and he declined comment.
http://attackerman.firedoglake.com/2009/05/14/cia-...
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Natureboy5 months, 4 weeks ago
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And the blue team and the red team continue to fling excrement at each other like monkeys in a zoo.
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(yawn)
Come clean, dammit! Conservatives are handwringing because Pelosi knew about the CIA using techniques the conservatives themselves have been defending? You can't have it both ways. Either stop subborning torture or stop feigning outrage at Pelosi's knowledge of that which you yourselves support.
And for the dems, get off it! You are clinging to the most minor slivers of doubt like a desperate defense attorney at a murder trial. Pelosi knew! Damn straight she knew. Do some retrospection, and realize that your dem insiders have been complicit with the republicans in virtually every dark deed against human rights since 2001, including the Iraq war, the PATRIOT Act, and yes, greenlighting the use of torture. Wake the fsck up and smell the coffee! Your "leaders" do not share your values! -
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k9kssr5 months, 4 weeks ago
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Personally, I don't care what they did to the terrorists, whatever it was it did not hold a candle to what happened to 3,000 Americans on 9/11 who seem to be conveniently forgotten in the debate.
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I think this subject ought to be dropped, but bottom line....if you are going to pursue it, then Pelosi is right in the thick of it. So, dems, make your call, prosecute or not, but if you choose to, Pelosi ain't gonna skate.-
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mesodude5 months, 4 weeks ago
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"Personally, I don't care what they did to the terrorists, whatever it was it did not hold a candle to what happened to 3,000 Americans on 9/11 who seem to be conveniently forgotten in the debate."
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--Yes. The "terrorists" aren't American so let's treat them like animals (before we have all the facts), we are superior to all other people all over the world, we never make mistakes (like Abu Ghraib), so the end justifies the means. Yep. Spoken like a true nationalistic war cheerleading neocon. Perfect. -
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cushi5 months, 3 weeks ago
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How long will ignorance be the dominant factor controlling neocons?? Will putting it in all caps make it easier for you? IRAQ WAS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR 911. BUSH'S PALS, THE SAUDI'S WERE. Instead of knocking Obama, we should be searching for Osama - something your Weasel of an ex-President chose not to do.
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Wolfie20075 months, 4 weeks ago
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k9k
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You are so right none of these terrorists were forced to jump from 40 stories up in the air with their hair and clothing on fire just to stop the fear and pain by dying. I think this entire thing needs to be dropped, also, this debate continues to inflict pain on the 9/11 families and the entire nation. -
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simonsez5 months, 4 weeks ago
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I have a feeling that Obama would prefer a hand picked Consigliera in the House and will not intervene to support her.
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It's stunning how many waves this administration has made in such a short time. The Chrysler thing is the messiest intervention I have ever seen. The math related to all this is beyond my level of comprehension; a spending spree in the face of falling revenues for many years as companies and individuals deduct their losses.
Deficits are apt to double from what they are predicting. I've never seen anything like it. God help us ...-
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ChefEOD5 months, 4 weeks ago
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And don't you just love the spender in chief getting on TV to tell us all how deficit spending will destroy the country? Wonder how much more he will spend for us in the next week, month, year???
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Does no one see that as Obummer literally rubbing our face in it?
"I will spend this country into bankruptcy and tell it to your face right now on national TV and there is nothing you can do to stop me!"
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tiredofwhiners5 months, 4 weeks ago
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I too have no problem with waterboarding. The holocaust comparison is typical liberal hyperbole. Of course there's no comparison. Torture is all a matter of degree and personal definition. From "We want information" to castration. The ultimate torture is killing the prisoner. In Vietnam the ARVN (South Vietnamese army) would take a group of prisoners up in a chopper. Then they would open the door at 5000 feet and throw one of them out to their death. Then they would say "Now talk, we want information". The remaining ones would sing like canaries. That was just one of their "enhanced interrogation" methods. Also the information given would be checked out as best they could. If proven just a story they would be further questioned and killed if nothing good resulted. No suggestion here that we do it, just an example of REAL torture.
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