The case for Nancy Pelosi

[wyldwolf]

The most salient—and most widely ignored—point in judging the competing claims of Nancy Pelosi and the CIA is that regardless of what Pelosi was informed of, whether in a quiet hint or in a full briefing behind closed doors, it wouldn’t make torture any less illegal or any more acceptable. That’s why the Pentagon and the FBI, which apparently did know what was happening in Dick Cheney’s dungeons, refused to participate in this wholesale breach of American and international law.

The rush to arraign Pelosi is a transparent attempt to divert attention from that paramount fact—the real crime. Frankly, it’s been pretty effective so far. The tilt against the House speaker has dominated Beltway chatter, the cable echo chamber, and even the network news.

Some of the criticisms are preposterous:

Q: Why didn’t she tell members of Congress what she knew—assuming she knew it?
A: Because that would have been a felony under national security statutes.

Q: Why has her explanation unfolded in awkward, decidedly unspun phrases?
A: Almost certainly because she was playing by the rules—which say you’re not supposed to discuss a top-secret briefing—while her pro-torture opponents regularly transgress that boundary.

I’ve known Nancy Pelosi for decades. She’s a person of genuine principle and integrity. As much as a politician can be, she’s prone to telling the truth. But when I suggested as much on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the rhetorical roof fell in as my conservative colleagues piled on. As I insisted then, however, there’s actually a persuasive case that the lying here isn’t being done by the speaker...

More...

http://www.theweek.com/article/index/96671/The_case_for_Nancy_Pelosi

[MannyGoldstein]

1. "They Briefed Me On These Techniques...

but didn't tell me that they would use them on people - that's why I didn't do anything"

Oh please. Was she thinking she was being given a nice history lesson?

It's true that Pelosi's waffle-o-rama is tiny potatoes compared to our coterie of confessed war criminals. But since the confessed war criminals can't be prosecuted, there's no drama in that anymore, so the press is playing up the drama of the ever-evolving Pelosi story.

[wyldwolf]

3. Thank you for your insight, Rush.

[shraby]

4. Why do you say the confessed war criminals can't

be prosecuted? There is no statute of limitations on war crimes.

[mmonk]

2. I don't care for her at all but it is preposterous she has become

the focus of bush administration crimes. What's more preposterous and obvious is that this country cannot claim that it has a free press that practices anything even remotely related to journalism.

[K Gardner]

5. Amen and amen to this.