Posted on 07/10/2009 8:32:56 AM PDT by Sub-Driver
Dems vs. Dems on National Security Puts Speaker Pelosi's CIA Fiasco Back in the Spotlight Key Democrat Criticizes Democrats: "I Just Think There's a Real Problem with Politicizing Our Intelligence Community"
Washington, Jul 10 - House Democrats pulled the FY 2010 Intelligence Authorization bill from floor consideration this week, continuing to fight amongst themselves and play politics with our intelligence professionals and U.S. national security. A Wall Street Journal editorial this morning described it this way:
“As political spectacles go, one would be hard pressed to find anything as ridiculous as the Washington Romper Room now starring Congressional Democrats and the CIA. If only the consequences weren’t potentially so damaging for national security.”
Some House Democrats on the Intelligence Committee are desperately trying to provide political cover for Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) after she made serious accusations about our nation’s intelligence professionals, charging themselves that the CIA “lied to Congress.” But some Democrats aren’t convinced.
As reported in the Oklahoman this morning, Rep. Dan Boren (D-OK) refused to get involved with an effort by seven of the 13 Democrats on the House Intelligence Committee and said their letter to CIA Director Panetta “further politicizes” the intelligence panel’s work:
“Boren, who joined the Intelligence Committee this year, took the side of Republicans on the panel who criticized the Democrats’ letter.”
“‘I just think there’s a real problem with politicizing our intelligence community, whether it’s Democrats or Republicans,’ Boren said in an interview about the letter.”
Despite their best efforts to provide political cover to Speaker Pelosi, all it has done is revive the long-running controversy about the Speaker’s highly-publicized charges against our intelligence professionals – allegations the Speaker has declined to produce any evidence to support. Here’s just a few reports on Speaker Pelosi this morning:
- New York Times: The question of what the C.I.A. tells Congress has sharply divided lawmakers along party lines since May, when Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the agency of having failed to inform her in a September 2002 briefing that it was using the simulated drowning technique called waterboarding during the interrogation of a man suspected of being a terrorist. The C.I.A. asserted that Ms. Pelosi had been told about the waterboarding, and Republicans have accused her of attacking the integrity of American intelligence officers. Ms. Pelosi has played down the issue, and on Thursday she distanced herself from the furor over Mr. Panetta’s revelations, saying the Intelligence Committees would handle it.
- CBS News: It’s been almost two months since Pelosi claimed the CIA lied to her about what interrogation methods they'd used on detainees. That accusation prompted Panetta's statement defending the agency. Since then, the speaker has refused to take any more questions on the subject. While Pelosi took numerous questions today, she deflected most and left matters in the hands of the House Intelligence Committee.
- McClatchy: House Minority Leader John Boehner told reporters. “I’m still waiting for Speaker Pelosi to either put up the facts or retract her statement and apologize.”
- Christian Science Monitor: Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta is not blinking in a new face-off with House Democrats over whether the CIA misled the Congress in the Bush years. It’s a charge famously raised by Speaker Nancy Pelosi on May 14 but quickly denied by Director Panetta, then just three months into his new job. Ms. Pelosi was disputing charges that she had been briefed by the CIA about torture of detainees but did nothing about it. The flap put the credibility both of the speaker and the agency on the line, and it helped drive down Pelosi’s public approval ratings.
- Associated Press: What Pelosi knew about the CIA’s interrogation program and when she knew it — and why she did not object to it — is expected to be a feature of Republican talking points during debate over the bill. GOP leaders, who have repeatedly expressed outrage that Pelosi accused the CIA of lying, issued fresh challenges that she provide proof. They say Democratic revelations about Panetta's testimony are an attempt to provide Pelosi political cover. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a statement that the revelation “appears to be an attempt to cover up for Speaker Pelosi’s faulty memory and baseless accusations about the hardworking men and women of the CIA.”
Despite efforts by House Republicans to seek answers on behalf of our intelligence professionals and the American people they help protect, House Democrats continue to stonewall of Speaker Pelosi’s accusations and sweep the matter under the rug at every opportunity. Will House Democrats continue to attempt to provide the Speaker with political cover, or will they do the right thing by our intelligence professionals and give them the cover and safety they need to protect the American people?
If my job was to protect the United States and I was head of the CIA, I wouldn’t tell Pelosi a dam thing. She can’t keep her mouth shut. Much like Leeky Leahy.
Pelosi makes Edith Bunker look like a Rhodes scholar.
She’s stupid but dangerous. If for no other reason, we need to regain s majority in the House in 2010 and send this witch packing her broom....
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