Leave Nancy Pelosi (The FRACK) Alone!

Look, I can understand the desire to peek under every nook and cranny of the Torture issue and to no hold anyone, even prominent Democrats, above scrutiny - but being fair-minded and even handed is not what is going on here.

This is a Diversion!

Nancy Pelosi did not Torture Anyone.

Nancy Pelosi did not devise a series of polices designed to circumvent Geneva, the War Crimes Act and the Torture Act.

Nancy Pelosi did not agree that anyone should be tortured.

Nancy Pelosi is not now making the argument that Torture isn't Torture and that Water-boarding is legal.

Regardless of who told her what, and when she was told, all the above remains true. The people we should be focusing on are STILL Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury, Gonzales, Cheney, Bush and THIS GUY!

Q: And waterboarding is or is not torture?

HOEKSTRA: There is a wide range of waterboarding. I’m telling you, that I know waterboarding was used, Shep. I’m not mincing words. I’m saying that I believe the techniques used in 2002, in 2003, which included waterboarding in a specific format that I’m aware of how they used it, that I believe that was consistent with U.S. law.

Think about the Republican position as exposed here by Hoekstra and Cheney. They all say - "Waterboarding is Legal".

Worst case scenario then is that if Nancy was briefed on Water-boarding they also Told Her It Was Legal.

Also recall, at the time this briefing took place, Hoekstra Porter Goss was the Chairman of the Intellegence Committee, so he should have been told everything - and probably more - than Pelosi. If she's guilty of inaction for being told something was "Legal" - so is he.

The briefings of Congress are not done to gain their "approval", notifying Congress is done to allow them a better picture in which to handle current and future legislation.

If a member of Congress disagrees with something they hear in a classified briefing there are only two things they can do and not go to jail - write a letter to the Administration (which Jane Harmon did) and try and change the Law (which Nancy and the House did when they passed legislation to make the CIA abide by the Army Field Manual).

Bush Vetoed that Bill.

Republicans want to distract us from the truth, they want to go after Bill Clinton for Rendition in 1998, they want to Eric Holder for being in the DOJ under Clinton. They want to ignore the fact that the only thing that most people inside the Bush Administration who did "Stand Up" to oppose this policy did were write letters and memos - like William Howard Taft IV (pdf) and Phillip Zelikow at the State Dept and John Bellinger at NSA.

They don't want to admit that those letters were IGNORED - just like Harmon's - and in some cases they were systematically destroyed.

They want to pretend that capable interrogators who can actually get information quickly and within the law like Ali Soufan and Matthew Alexander - don't exist, but they do.



Nancy Pelosi is NOT the problem here. I do think that efforts should be taken to establish a method to handle Classified Crimes, but baring that - there really wasn't much more she could do no matter *WHAT* they told her.

Before we get lost in the weeds on this we need to first start with examining the people who knowingly committed falsehoods and lies (Yoo, Bybee, Bradbury, Cheney) - to implement an illegal policy. Those people are still at it, don't let them take our eyes off the ball.

Vyan

P.S. No, I don't think the "Speech and Debate" clause would protect announcing this information on the floor since it has an exception for "Treason and Felonies" which is what revealing classified information is under 18 USC 798!.