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The New York Times has a long rundown of Pelosi's involvement, and the post says the press conference was "heated." See, "Pelosi Acknowledges She Was Told of Waterboarding in 2003":
"I am saying that the C.I.A. was misleading the Congress and at the same time the administration was misleading the Congress on weapons of mass destruction," Ms. Pelosi said.
Senator Joseph Lieberman, inteviewed by NBC's Norah O'Donnell, disputes Pelosi's allegations that intelligence officials lied:
No, on that specific point, I totally disagree. You have to have confidence in the CIA. And over the 20 years I’ve been here, I’ve been briefed constantly by the CIA and I’d say that they’ve told me the truth, as they see it.
I think Speaker Pelosi has completely lost the confidence of the American people. As Andrea Tantaros indicates:
Speaker Nancy Pelosi has told multiple and conflicting tall tales regarding her knowledge of what she knew about the Bush administration’s information gathering tactics, when we know she was told about waterboarding in 2002, did nothing, and now has misled the American people about it.Thus, until a resolution on this matter is reached in Congress and at the White House, I'm calling for Speaker Pelosi to step aside as Speaker of the House of Representatives.
Also, if the clamor for investigations continues, President Obama should appoint an independent, bipartisan committee outside of the Congress to investigate the matter. The Democrats cannot be trusted on these matters, and the partisan witchhunt has gone on too long. Attacks on the previous administration have now reached a level of unacceptable distraction to the important business of the nation.
Speaker Pelosi: Step aside!
14 comments:
i didn't even watch this, just heard it, and, wow...i've heard more convincing lies from a 12 yr old...
Thanks Libby!
If Pelosi had an "R" behind her name, she would have been exiled to Siberia long ago.
-Dave
The Justice Department should immediately begin a comprehensive investigation of how the US Government authorized and implemented a regime of detainee torture. Everyone who knew that US agents were torturing prisoners, and approved that policy, whether Democrat or Republican, from the President on down, should face war crime trials.
The Obama administration should begin the process right away, and let the chips fall where they fall.
RSS,
Waterboarding is not torture. Putting people on the rack and stretching them until their limbs pop is.
As far as I know, the U.S. hasn't resorted to the rack as yet.
BTW, have you considered that, just perhaps, one of the American lives that was saved by coercive interrogations just might have been someone close to you?
No, I didn't think so, as you enemy-coddling libs don't give a rat's left gonad about innocent American's being killed by the Islamists.
Thank God I am not a member of your family, or a friend of yours.
As you are clearly on the side of those who wish to kill innocent Americans, you aren't worth another second of my time.
-Dave
Hear, Hear... Dr.
R Stanton, it would be helpful if you actually read the post before leaving your standard screed. I think Dave has your number pretty well.
Donald is right - Pelosi is a disgrace and should resign.'
Here is the reality: the truth is that they were in on this just as much as the Republicans were in the days after 9-11. They too were worried about another attack of spate of attacks and wanted to do everything they could to protect the country. But then the politics of the situation changed and their nutjob leftist base rose up, and like a drunk going back to the bottle they submitted to their worst instincts.
Now the Democrats are on their moral high horse, and in their holier than thou best are pontificating that they would never approve such things!
But now we have Pelosi hoist by her own petard.
Republicans, Democrats, everyone did the right thing in the days after 9-11. It was right to use waterboarding and EHTs when we did and they probably saved thousands of American (and other) lives.
So unfortunately for the Democrats, the truth has a way of getting out. And just as it's become clear that they too thought that Saddam had reams of WMD, they too knew and approved of our use of waterboarding and other "enhanced interrogation techniques."
If I might add
My old man once said to me
"The secret to breaking the law.....is dont get caught"
I replied "what happens if I get caught?"
he said "well then ...then we have to do something about it, we have to uphold the law....you, me , the President of the United States, ...everybody"
In other words the definition of waterboarding is a moot point now....this episode should have been a deep dark secret....
but as Tom put it..."the truth gets out"
Now we have to do something about it
Doesnt matter who the culprits are...its unfortunate to be a casualty in a war when youve never even touched the battlefield.
but we must uphold the law now, this country can withstand 100 , 9-11's, and we will march on, but when we stop upholding the law in this republic......the show is over .
When Pelosi points a finger of accusation, three point back at her.
The deserves the boot.
Far from "coddling" the enemy, I was out there fighting them in the Army--which shows how much I care about those close to me. You?
We already know that Redhunter fought the Commie Hordes by...reading. So keep your opinions about my patriotism to yourselves.
Water boarding is torture, by definition, US, and international law. It it morally depraved, and never justified. Moreover, it doesn't work: FBI agents obtained far more information without it than the CIA did with it.
(And by the way, hanging a person from a ceiling with their feet barely touching the ground for hours on end--the technique we condemn when used on John McCain, but condone when used on our enemies--looks an awful lot like the rack, if slower in effect.)
Any US officials, including Pelosi, who knew about our torture regime and condoned it should be punished.
And it turns out that the central focus of the torture of Zubaydah and Khalid Shiek Mohammed was not the gathering of information that would protect American lives, but the search for information establishing a connection between Iraq and Al Qaeda and justification for the war the neocons really wanted to start.
Water boarding has no definitive definition of "torture". Torture to one is nonsense to another. Get over it.
Pelosi is a damned liar and is in fact directly responsible for US casualties in a time of war.
She has declared war on the Spook Corps and we in the Spook Corps never lose.
Ever.
I have the full video of the international embarrassment at my placed if you are interested.
Listening to Pelosi squirm is torture.
Listening to moonbat anti-Americanists rail on with their retarded screed is torture.
RSS,
Did not another so called "veteran" get caught on their supposed qualifications? I am not sure that your quoting your prior experience has any value to the discussion for your screeds denote just the opposite.
The best anyone can say is that there is a disagreement about what is and what is not torture. I would posit that playing loud music for terrorists is torture for anything that makes those you disagree with in a bad light is the goal. American security be damned.
Pelosi is and has always been a liar and a "bomb,"metaphor for those on the Left, throwing partisan who has been bilkong this country for years.
No amount of trying to deflect from her problems can distract from what she is. Though you have to give her credit for throwing "red meat" to those afflicted with BDS for their hatred of any thing Bush trumps how she has been misleading and dissembling them for years.
The Left is so predictable that even Pelosi can make them heel like dogs. "Go Sic Them you damn fools!
The definition of "torture" from 18 US Code, Part I, Chapter 113C, Paragraph 2340:
"As used in this chapter—
(1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;
(2) “severe mental pain or suffering” means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from—
(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;
(B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;
(C) the threat of imminent death; or
(D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality;"
Quoting a JAG officer, Evan Wallach:
"To be effective, waterboarding is usually real drowning that simulates death. That is,
the victim experiences the sensations of drowning: struggle, panic, breath-holding, swallowing, vomiting, taking water into the lungs and, eventually, the same feeling of not being able to breathe that one experiences after being punched in the gut. The main difference is that the drowning process is halted. According to those who have studied waterboarding's effects, it can cause severe psychological trauma, such as panic attacks, for years."
Waterboarding therefore qualifies as torture under subparagraph C because it threatens imminent death, and under other sections because it causes great pain.
In fact, US officials prosecuted Japanese soldiers for torturing US personnel because they used waterboarding techniques. More recently, a civil court awarded damages to Phillipino citizens who were tortured by the Marcos regime, and a Texas sheriff was convicted of and sent to prison for torture because he used waterboarding to force confessions.
So the definition of waterboarding as torture is well established in US law.
My military experience relates to this discussion in two ways: first, it provides definitive evidence that I care about this country, about our soldiers, and about our national defense. It also shows that when it came time for me to man up and put my life on the line I was able to do so. I can look myself in the mirror every morning and see someone who devoted a career to the security of this country, and made a difference. Can you?
It also means that I understand warfare and the norms and values that make good soldiers. I know the importance of honor in battle and respect for the enemy, and that sadistic and degenerate behavior like torture has no place in the life of honorable warriors. We can kill our enemies without humiliating them, and win our battles without sadism.
All that said, I am no Nancy Pelosi fan, and if she knew about torture, or is lying about her knowledge now, she needs to go. I am not trying to excuse her or distract anyone from her behavior. She dishonors Democrats almost as much as torturing prisoners dishonors our soldiers.
I wrote my first comment to agree with you! That is, apparently, impossible, since you insist on applying one standard to your friends and another to your enemies.
Pelosi is being used as a scapegoat!!!
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