Posted on 05/16/2009 1:10:11 AM PDT by JohnHuang2
Senior intelligence officials yesterday acknowledged that two al-Qaeda operatives, Abu Zubaida and Khalid Sheik Mohammed, had been questioned about alleged links between al-Qaeda and Iraq when the two men underwent CIA interrogation in 2002 and 2003. But the officials denied that the questioning on Iraq had included waterboarding.
"The two top priorities driving so-called enhanced interrogation techniques were information on the locations of al-Qaeda leadership and plots against the United States," one intelligence official said yesterday, speaking on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the subject publicly. "Questions were asked about Iraq, but the notion that waterboarding was used to extract from either an admission that Iraq and al-Qaeda had a relationship is false, period," he added.
Recent media accounts have reported allegations that the waterboardings of Mohammed and Abu Zubaida, the nom de guerre of Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, were ordered by Bush administration officials seeking to find evidence of ties between al-Qaeda and Iraq, which the officials sought as a justification for military action against Iraq.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
First she denied being briefed about how rough Dick Cheney was treating Abu Zubaydah. Then she admitted being briefed but that the rough treatment was still in the planning stage at the time of the briefing which she forgot about. She insisted she was never told the techniques had been used. Then she admitted being told, but that it was a staffer who told her, not CIA briefers. She denied being 'complicit' in secrecy. Then she said the secrecy of the evil torture program kept her from speaking out. Her latest explanation is that the CIA lied to only one member of Congress -- her.
A hint that the San Francisco twit has *stepped in it* big time is the fact that the press is covering it. Even the New York Times notices a problem with Pelosi's several hundred conflicting explanations. Pelosi Defends Her Position on Interrogation Briefings, one headline read. Only on rare occasions does the word "defends" appear in the same headline as a Democrat. Usually, it's Democratic so-and-so stands firmly behind position despite vicious, despicable, right-wing smear . . . or similar fair and balanced headlines.
The media even reported the CIA Director's message to his employees contradicting Pelosi. Pelosi says her discredited explanations are true because the CIA lied to her. Director Leon Panetta wrote in his message that "it is not our practice to mislead Congress," not even Pelosi, who is easy. "As the Agency indicated previously," CIA officers had "briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah," including "the enhanced techniques that had been employed" by the Agency, Panetta vigorously noted -- marking the first time a Democrat said something vigorously nice about the Agency.
"No, no, no . . . it doesn't make me complicit, no," complained Nancy at her bizarre presser Thursday, as she rifled through her notes on when she forgot this and remembered that.
Pelosi is so stupid she didn't realize (until late in the game) that once you start slapping the "torture" label on EITs (Enhanced Interrogation Techniques) while admitting you kept quiet, the charge of complicity follows. Having neatly painted herself into the torture corner, she now has to engage in some enhancing of her own, claiming the CIA briefing (that she forgot about but now suddenly recalls vividly) lied to her. She denies knowing about the "torture", despite her torturing us for years with her face.
All of this was to bag the Bush lawyers on a torture rap, but Nancy's hoisted herself on her own petard instead. It's a dumb idea to pick a fight with the CIA and accuse it of lying, so Pelosi did so. Warning: This is your brain on botox.
Most of the pundits are wondering, Was Pelosi lying then or is she lying now? What I want to know is how a moron became House Speaker? Then again, there's B. Hussein.
Anyway, that's...
My Two Cents...
"JohnHuang2"
I’m a little surprised that Pincus, a very far-left wing reporter, would report details that contradict former Powell chief of staff Lawrence Wilkerson’s recent claims that the interrogation was focused on establishing a link between Iraq and AQ.
http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/iraq.torture/
CNN reports: “Finding a ‘smoking gun’ linking Iraq and al Qaeda became the main purpose of the abusive interrogation program the Bush administration authorized in 2002, a former State Department official [Wilkerson] told CNN on Thursday.”
Pincus must be working some other angle besides his usual attacks on Bush Admin policies using his SOP of intel community leaks. Perhaps he believes/knows that the release of more details will help him further his agenda.
Meanwhile, Holder is going to pull a Clinton and fire all the attorneys, using the same politcal justification that the RATS blamed Bush for doing.
I think what Pincus is doing here is simply throwing "Gorilla Dust" around to create seeds of confusion. Note that he didn't say waterboarding was never used, he said "the officials denied that the questioning on Iraq had included waterboarding. I think he's just putting out a little cover, in an attempt to dampen the fight.
The speculating leftwing media are as corrupt as Pelosi, and folks at CIA know who they are.
This is actually a very important distinction. Finding out if Iraq was connected to the terrorists was important information, but not time sensitive nor critical to saving American lives in the short term. The defense of waterboarding is that it was needed to find out about plans in the works to pull off another 9/11 attack. Had an attack been pulled off in 2002 or 2003 and it was discovered that some of the detainees knew it was going to happen, everyone would be screaming at the CIA for not using whatever techniques were necessary to get the info.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.