I really didn't get the whole bit about Nancy Pelosi. In fact, I still don't. I keep hearing on the news, "What did she know and when did she know it?", as if this has any relevance at all.
This isn't about whether or not then Minority Leader Pelosi was briefed about specific methods of interrogation, including the torture of some al Qaeda members. The "he said, she said" between Speaker Pelosi and CIA Director Leon Panetta is insiderism at its worst. No one believes Panetta that the CIA would never lie to the public. Very few on any side of the political debate really believe the Speaker. The most interesting aspect of this entire debate has been that there are Republicans with no vested interest in defending Speaker Pelosi who have said, unequivocally, that the CIA did not specifically address the issue of methods - including torture - or individuals. The only persons who have come out and called the Speaker a liar are those like Sen. Christopher Bond of MO, whose word isn't his last name.
More important, it seems to me, are the revelations that these "enhanced interrogations techniques" were used far earlier than have been revealed previously, including being used on political prisoners of war in Iraq to ascertain whether or not there was an al Qaeda-Iraq link which had previously not been uncovered. Now, anyone paying attention for the past eight or so years knows none existed. The CIA, military intelligence, anyone who knew anything kept telling higher-ups that it just wasn't the case. So, we hurt and hurt and hurt and simulated drowning and did all sorts of other horrible things to people for one reason - to cover Dick Cheney's flabby white ass. Period.
At this point, I don't care what Pelosi knew. I know that Cheney not only knew, but he and then-Defense Secretary ordered the repeated brutalizing of other human beings for no other purpose than to make sure they had some kind of cover. The attention being paid to whether or not Speaker Pelosi knew something is a distraction. How about some criminal proceedings against those who now only knew about it, but ordered it in the first place.
The time is long past. I'm tired of Republicans, conservatives, and other brainless people telling us that this was all OK, and especially now because Me. Pelosi knew about it and did nothing. I don't know if she knew, and no one else does either. I am far more concerned with the simple, plain, unadulterated fact that the sitting Vice President of the United States and the Secretary of Defense ordered torture for political cover.
They are despicable, horrible people.
