Apr 23 2009

Pelosi: We were not told…… endorses truth commission

(10 pm. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

“We were not, I repeat, we were not told that waterboarding or any of these other interrogation methods were used. What they did tell us was they had some legislative counsel opinions,” Pelosi said at an afternoon press conference. “And if and when they would be used, they would brief Congress at that time.”

From the SF Chronicle

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday d the establishment of a formal truth commission to investigate Bush administration anti-terrorism policies, including an examination of former top Justice Department lawyers who crafted the legal justifications for what critics say was torture.

……

Pelosi’s endorsement follows President Obama’s signal Tuesday that he was open to the idea. Obama’s shift, in tandem with last week’s release by the administration of past memos describing brutal interrogation techniques on terror suspects, has touched a match to the seething controversy over whether there should be a public or legal accounting for Bush administration policies on torture and detention.

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  1. Photobucket

  2. whether there should be a public or legal accounting

    There should be both.  We’re seeing the beginnings of a public accounting now with the release of all this information.

    But there must be a legal accounting as well.  (And when I say “must” I’m not claiming there will be, but speaking rhetorically).

    I can’t see this as an either/or.

    And there must also be a political accounting.  And a moral accounting.  And every other kind of accounting one can think of.

    • ANKOSS on April 23, 2009 at 22:41
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    I can’t believe that such an important briefing was done without supporting documents. Where are the documents supporting Pelosi’s claim? The paper and email trail is what will snare the scumbags who approved torturing captives. The accusations of torture have been raised for years, so why did Pelosi never make this claim before? I believe that she was in on the dirty secret, and now she is trying to escape the scandal. Too late, madame torturer.

  4. colleagues co-conspirators disagree. They claim they were told and asked if more could be done.

    • Edger on April 23, 2009 at 23:09
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    to actually believe that anyone is stupid enough to believe her, can she?

    Oh, wait – wasn’t she recently re-elected?

  6. “private” meetings that took place concerning torture and that she voiced no disapproval of it.*  Did she actually see the memos?  That’s a good angle — maybe, she did and, maybe, she didn’t.  

    Michael Ratner, of the Center for Constitutional Rights,today, spoke out loudly concerrning any sort of truth commission, or other commission.  

    Today I awoke to read that a number of human rights type groups have called on President Obama to create a commission of accountability to investigate and report publicly on torture and the cruel and inhumane treatment of detainees. There is not a word in the petition about criminal prosecutions of the torture team. Yet, I know that some of these groups would say they still want prosecutions. Sadly, this call and a commission if set up, would almost guarantee that prosecutions won’t happen.

    Briefly, here is why. We have reached a critical political moment on this issue. Obama has been forced or pushed to open the door to prosecutions, an opening I thought would take much longer to achieve. If there was ever a time to push that door open wider and demand a special prosecutor it is now. We have documented and open admissions of criminality. We have Cheney and Hayden admitting what they approved these techniques; and Cheney saying he would approve waterboarding again. We have the Senate Armed Services Report detailing how the torture program was authored and approved by our highest officials in the Whitehouse and employed in Guantanamo, Iraq and Afghanistan. And we have thousands of pages of proof. There is public outrage about the torture program and the media in the US and the world are covered with the US misdeeds. . . . .

    *one of her colleagues DID disapprove, but I can’t remember her name

  7. Just like they pretended not to know weapons of mass destruction were a lie…

    If we let her save face do you think she’ll actually do something after long last??   Perhaps with the recession her corporate masters have loosened their chains a bit.  

  8. They must have something REALLY GOOD ON HER.

    Deer in the headlights. All the time. Look at the fear in those eyes. It never leaves.

    They’ve got something on her. And it’s nasty.

    • rb137 on April 24, 2009 at 06:43
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    If she didn’t know, she wasn’t doing her job. Either way, she’s culpable. Hell, I knew they were waterboarding.

  10. truth commission, bullshit thing that will end up with nothing.  The purpose at the outset must be that if crimes were committed, they must be prosecuted.  

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