Speaker's Comments Raise Detainee Debate to New Level

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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's extraordinary accusation that the Bush administration lied to Congress about the use of harsh interrogation techniques dramatically raised the stakes in the growing debate over the Bush administration's anti-terrorism policies even as it brought troubling new questions about the speaker's credibility.

Pelosi's performance in the Capitol was either a calculated escalation of a long-running feud with the Bush administration or a reckless act by a politician whose word had been called into question. Perhaps it was both.

For the first time, Pelosi (D-Calif.) acknowledged that in 2003 she was informed by an aide that the CIA had told others in Congress that officials had used waterboarding during interrogations. But she insisted, contrary to CIA accounts, that she was not told about waterboarding during a September 2002 briefing by agency officials. Asked whether she was accusing the CIA of lying, she replied, "Yes, misleading the Congress of the United States."

Washington now is engaged in a battle royal of finger-pointing, second-guessing and self-defense, all over techniques President Obama banned in the first days of his administration. Both sides in this debate believe they have something to prove -- and gain -- by keeping the fight alive.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/14/AR2009051404240_pf.html

[Tangerine LaBamba]

1. Here's my theory -

Pelosi's actions today were vetted and cleared and choreographed by the White House. This has Rahm Emanuel's fingerprints all over it.

It accomplishes two things, very nicely, and I like that Pelosi is gutsy enough to take the lead (and the hits) on this one.

First, it shifts the ownership of who should conduct the investigation from the White House to Congress. That takes the heat off Obama, who can sit back and watch what happens.

Next, it keeps it going, ratcheting up the scope and, at the same time, narrowing the focus - I'm thinking of Cheney here - because he's been handing over statements to the investigation every time he opens his mouth. Gift after gift.

So, I'm really pleased with what Pelosi has done, because it's taken on a whole different dimension now - Pelosi has called out the CIA, and that is a challenge that cannot go unanswered.

The fight has begun. It's feeling very much like the time of Watergate - the Saturday Night Massacre, when brave men refused to go along with the bullshit.........................

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. So that's what Nancy and Rahm did after they got a room.....

They have pics at HuffPo of them flirting and nuzzling.

Thanks for that analysis. I remember watching the Watergate Hearings in the summer of '73 too.

I had just finished my freshman year of college.