Senator Specter says CIA has a “bad record” on “Honesty.”

(8 am. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Understatement, perhaps.  ðŸ™‚

This is surprising, but I’m glad he said this.  Nancy Pelosi has her faults, but the attacks on her for telling the truth about the CIA, i.e., that they lie, are wrong.  It’s misdirection by Republicans to avoid justice for Bush and Cheney (and many others) for violating international law. Pelosi did not shine on this (an understatement) but she is not Bush or Cheney.  She may not have stopped it (and she may not have been able to do so), but she did not create the criminal policies.  

Arlan Specter coming to the rescue.  Well, it’s a start.  Now he needs to support EFCA.

Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.) took the opportunity Wednesday to defend House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), who has come under fire in recent weeks over a controversy surrounding when she was told of the use of enhanced interrogation techniques being used by the CIA.

“The CIA has a very bad record when it comes to – I was about to say ‘candid’; that’s too mild – to honesty,” Specter, a former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said in a lunch address to the American Law Institute. He cited misleading information about the agency’s involvement in mining harbors in Nicaragua and the Iran-Contra affair.

snip

“Director [Leon] Panetta says the agency does not make it a habit to misinform Congress. I believe that is true. It is not the policy of the Central Intelligence Agency to misinform Congress,” Specter said. “But that doesn’t mean that they’re all giving out the information.”

http://thehill.com/leading-the…

16 comments

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    • TomP on May 21, 2009 at 00:02
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    Justice.  

  1. That’s rich, coming from Snarlin’ Arlen, father of the Magic Bullet Theory.

    • izzy on May 21, 2009 at 04:16

    truth and nothing but the truth from the CIA. Thats why it scares me so much…am I allowed to say that here? =)

  2. I speculate that this has more to do with saving his own ass then doing whats right.  I hope they run someone for the primaries and i will give money for a real liberal to defeat this political oppurtunist.

    I mean this guy is a disease magnet and has been kept alive soley from the health care system that is provided to him for free by the government.  Yet he has been, and to my current knowledge, still is against UHC.  What a piece of work he is.  

    specter always shows he can talk big to appear to be a “moderate”, but he always voted straight santorum when people needed him during bush.  

  3. There hasn’t had an honest conversation about the CIA in the DC halls of power since the Church Committee hearings ended.

    People across the political spectrum inside the Beltway frequently criticize the CIA in small ways. But the kind of systematic (re)appraisal that we need is entirely lacking.

    The CIA’s bad record on honesty? That’s the point and purpose of the CIA. I only wish there were a critical mass of Congresspeople and Senators to actually do something about it.

    • TomP on May 21, 2009 at 16:01
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    • TomP on May 21, 2009 at 16:01
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