Question: Does Obama's refusal to release the torture pics leave Pelosi twisting in the wind?

[villager]

in other words, had the pics come out as originally planned, would the resultant "firestorm" put the focus where it needs to be, rather than allowing the GOP and their media adjuncts to spin this as somehow being Pelosi's sole responsibility?

[leftofthedial]

1. It leaves any lingering belief that Obama has a sense of right and wrong

twisting in the wind.








(and it does Pelosi no favors; it helps cheney)

[KittyWampus]

7. just because Obama isn't a reactionary screamer doesn't mean he doesn't know the law

and the appropriate way to implement it.

[EFerrari]

9. Posting insults all over DU is no service to Obama. n/t

[ThomWV]

2. Dam It! Look, the pictures are not of CIA torture, they are of military abuse

There are two very different stories here and the press is confusing the two. Get it right. Pelosi was briefed on CIA torture, the pictures that Obama is not releasing are of miliatry personel abusing prisioners. Different subjects.

[villager]

3. Fair enough -- the waterboarding vs. the prisoners covered in excrement. Still:

Would the conversation be shifted away from Pelosi, had the pics come out?

[EFerrari]

4. I don't think it's that neat. Military and CIA worked together.

And leadership created the atmosphere conducive to abuse.

[villager]

6. that I think speaks to my point -- we'd be having an entirely different conversation now

rather than allowing the right to co-opt the discussion in terms of Pelosi...

[EFerrari]

8. Yes, I agree. And while I'm fighting with myself not to take some kind of

twisted pleasure in the attacks on Pelosi, the more important thing is those pictures could have accelerated this process. Even at points we can't be aware of -- like CIA "finding" detainees that are "lost" right now. Like cleaning up conditions for the people still in custody.

[ThomWV]

10. It is that neat when you're trying to deceive the public about what the Speaker knew

[EFerrari]

11. Have to disagree. Remember England and those other people

said very specifically that they were "softening up" detainees for MI. I also read that there's a "rapid response" team of goons at Gitmo that work over detainees who are on the runway for interrogations or between them.

The right wing is full of it. They're opportunistic liars and we all know that. But Nancy Pelosi's decisions have come home to roost. This is exactly where short term thinking gets you, imo.

[Ian David]

5. If impeachement hadn't been off the table, she wouldn't be twisting in the wind now. n/t

[Caliman73]

12. I don't think that the photos are the major thing here...

The photos are more about transparency than about what Pelosi knew. Where the President and Pelosi seem to have erred is in not calling for investigations sooner and with more authority. Moving slowly and cautiously is typically a good thing, but in this situation with the President saying that there would be no prosecutions and with Pelosi not calling or at least directing the appropriate committee to look into the situation, they have allowed the Republicans the space to try and control the message. I don't think it is a matter of anyone being left twisting in the wind. It is a matter of people dropping the ball on the rule of law and allowing the criminals to get their message out first.