Media, Republicans Focus On Pelosi Sideshow As Torture Evidence Against Cheney Multiplies
posted by: Aaron Pendell 188 days ago
There has been a steady flow of new evidence regarding Bush Administration interrogation policies over the last week. Much of that news has shed significant light upon the motives of Dick Cheney, and his involvement in crafting and implementing the torture program. The influx of reporting has driven a wedge between the former administration's legal argument -- if you can call it that --for the techniques that were approved, and how they were actually used. Really shocking stuff. However, this damning information is somehow being drowned out in mainstream media (MSM) coverage by a sideshow clearly peripheral to the torture controversy: Nancy Pelosi and her tiff with the CIA.
As I mentioned, beneath the Pelosi noise, there has been some excellent reporting. It's becoming clear that that the use of torture was employed, as I suggested last Wednesday, to establish a link between Iraq and al Qaeda. This clip from last Friday's broadcast of MSNBC's, The Rachel Maddow Show, includes much of it:
Along with numerous sources listed by Maddow, her opening statement sums up the dilemma nicely, "... a story that is moving faster than even its own politics." Spot on! The Congress has, indeed, gone off in a tangential, yet consuming, direction.
The he said/she said spat between Nancy Pelosi and the CIA has been enthusiastically jumped upon by the GOP. House Minority Leader, John Boehner, and Senator, Kit Bond, have led the charge against Speaker Pelosi. Their complaints have centered on Pelosi's public statements that the CIA "misled" Congress about the use of waterboarding. “That’s really unfortunate to trash our intelligence community as she’s done.” Bond (R - MO) said last Friday.
Boehner (R - OH) has been the most outspoken on the subject, following up Pelosi's press conference last week with one of his own. "Lying to the Congress of the United States is a crime," Boehner said. "If the speaker is accusing the CIA and other intelligence officials of lying or misleading the Congress, then she should come forward with evidence and turn that over to the Justice Department so they be prosecuted. And if that's not the case, I think she ought to apologize to our intelligence professionals around the world."
But, what are Boehner and Bond really upset about? Both seem to suggest that the CIA has never lied to Congress, and that Pelosi's insinuation that they did is somehow undercutting the morale and effectiveness of the intelligence agency. However, their suggestions are false. The CIA has lied and/or misled the Congress on numerous occasions. Besides, Pelosi, herself, has called for the release of all pertinent documents.
Further, the Republicans have treated the statements from the CIA Director, Leon Panetta, which deny any intentional misleading of Congress; however, they've done so, purposely leaving out important caveats within Panetta's public denial. Here's Maddow's discussion on the subject with The Plum Line's Greg Sargent, just last night:
What is more likely is that the Republicans are focusing on Pelosi because they feel that her call for investigations into the Bush interrogation program are hypocritical, and that the Speaker's outrage over it is contrived. After all, Pelosi is their favorite target, and feigned outrage has become a Republican art form, so their focus on her is to be expected. The media focus, however, is a separate and curious matter.
The MSM has been content to chase its tail over the Pelosi-CIA controversy. Despite the revelations about Dick Cheney's involvement in, and misuse of, torture as laid out in the first Maddow clip above, Media Matters reported today that five major newspapers have neglected to mention them:
The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and USA Today -- has reported on a May 13 Daily Beast article reporting that Vice President Dick Cheney's office "suggested waterboarding an Iraqi prisoner, a former intelligence official for Saddam Hussein, who was suspected to have knowledge of a Saddam-al Qaeda connection."
Tell me what you think. Why does the media seem preoccupied with Pelosi, a peripheral element within the torture debate, while evidence upon evidence piles up against Dick Cheney, a figure far closer to, if not the center of the matter? The MSM, without directly saying it, have twisted the torture stories through their coverage, imparting to their viewers that the potential hypocrisy of Nancy Pelosi is somehow on a par with the blatantly criminal behavior of the former Vice President.
As for the Republicans, I'm tempted to think that they're walking directly into a trap, albeit a poorly executed one on Pelosi's part. Think about it. Before the Pelosi matter came to the fore, how many Republicans were willing to declare their desire to get to the bottom of the torture issue? With their sights set on Pelosi, I think that the Republicans are in for a rude awakening down the road, as Matthew Yglesias expressed at The Daily Beast yesterday:
...[Republicans]are going to see their ardent pursuit of Pelosi blow up in their faces:it's very possible that, done rigorously, Pelosi and other Democrats, such as Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), could wind up getting a black eye or two. But however bad an investigation might make the members of Congress who were supposed to be preventing illegal conduct look, the people actually doing the misdeeds are going to look even worse. Today, the congressional Republicans look extremely clever. But in a few months' time, we'll look back on this as yet another example of a conservative tactical victory that winds up backfiring.
Read more: bush, iraq, news, cia, politics, torture, republicans, media, cheney, congress, intelligence, al qaeda, george bush, waterboarding, pelosi, nancy pelosi, dick cheney, Boehner, john boehner, christopher bond, kit bond, torture debate, speaker pelosi
comments
Who is John Gault?
I am reading Atlas Shrugged right now and it is scary how much the current Obama Policy is following this book.
Stop bickering about right and left, who did what in the past. Open your eyes and see the down fall you are leaving your children by not following what this current government is doing. Arguing about this sideshow is keeping where Obama wants it away from his socialism and goverment control.
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Check out this one as well
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHjsaEK4vnw&feature=channel_page
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I agree with Kitt B. I hold my nose when I vote for the Democrats, who should have started impeachment proceedings a long time ago. All those responsible for stealing the 2000 and 2004 elections should have been in jail a long time ago.
Check out this song by my brother, "Clinton got a Blowjob". It just won 1st prize in the novelty/comedy category of the international song writing competition.
http://ericschwartz.com/ES_pages/clinton_2.html
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Pelosi did indeed prevent an impeachment hearing from coming before Congress, even though her own constituents wanted this. Her job is not to make nice with the President but to first follow the rule of law and represent her constituency. I am disappointed in the democrats, by this point in time they could have, should have an open and on going investigation of all things that are suspect in the Bush years. Though she was not speaker of the house when this briefing took place, as the minority leader she may well have been briefed on the current situation. If you want people to shut up include them, with a warning that to discuss the information is tantamount to treason. I think too many people regardless of party affiliation are involved in unconstitutional acts to push to hard for investigations. They are hoping we'll get bored or distracted and this will all soon be a bad memory. Why not it worked for Nixon. This is not about one group or party be complicit while the other is in the dark. The decisions for the invasion of Iraq, and use of torture may well have been exclusively in the executive branch, but that doesn't mean that others did not know, and therefore were (and are) part of the cover-up. Pelosi does not seem to have great leadership skills - beyond bullying to push thing through. She lacks diplomacy, and they ability to speak to the public. If you want to appear honest, then be honest.
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I'm glad to see That most of you feel the same way I do.
Dose anybody believe anything the CIA says?
I don't care if Pelosi new or not. This is a way to get us to look over here, not over there, trick being done to get us off the subject of what the Bushwackers did in order to justify the use of torture. After they launched an illegal war they had to find a way to justify what they were doing.
Lying to the American people is a big thing to try and cover up. Now that the cat is out of the bag, they are trying to get us to focus on anything else.
I think Bush and his Bushwackers, should all be tried and go to jail for life, or maybe, Convict them of conspiracy to over through the Constitution of the United States and hang them in a public square. That would be a good deterrent to other public officials who think they are above the law.
I also think that the Patriot Act should be repealed. It has done more to take away our rights then any law in history.
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I'd rather see Cheney, and Bush and Rove, tried for treason. Valerie Plame's job was to prevent mushroom clouds appearing over American cities. They blew her cover as typically republican act of political revenge. That's treason plain and simple.
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Pelosi is an idiot, but she has a right to hate the CIA. I wonder if this includes Valerie Plame too. Anyway this whole Pelosigate thing is absurd nonsense. If she's going to be forced to step down as Speaker, it should be due to incompetence not because of her liberal POV.
Cheney may have advocated torture. If he did, I think he was trying to please the American people. Face it. After 9-11, people wanted payback by any means necessary. Perhaps we forget that today nearly eight years on.
A smarter way to nail Cheney would have been on war profiteering. Follow his money trail. Make him testify in front of Congress about the way he ripped off the American taxpayer and profited off of the blood of our young soldiers.
But going after Dick on torturing Al Quida suspects is a zero sum gain for liberals. It's stupidly counterproductive.
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Wish I could wipe the lot of 'em clean (except for Feingold, a good man) and give Obama a clean slate to work with. I've been on the muslim Obama appointee forum, and seeing this one, it's good to see it's not polluted with half-witted jesus freaks.
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How can anyone be gullible enough to assume the press, mostly controlled by wealthy right wingers, would ever have provided tull information on the shenanigans of Bush/Cheney. In fact, it appears that the major publivcations are doing their best to shy away from the stories of past misdeads that led the United States into an unending war in Iraq and Afghanistan without any clear path to stopping Iran.
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I concur with Janis wholeheartedly, I could not have said it better!!
Chaney and Bush should have been stopped long ago, "EVERYONE" knew what was going on and failed to stop those criminals from going to war and the torture and all the rest of the laws they have broken.
Those are the people that should be tried and found Guilty as charged.
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