Nancy Pelosi, The CIA and Congress

It appears Congress has lost it collective mind once again. Am I the only American who expects our elected officials to do the job for which they are getting paid?

We elected you; we pay you to be intelligent, honest, rational, logical, straightforward and practical, with the ability to exercise real common sense. But what we see from Congress today is more like watching high school students, bicker, tease, push and shove each other in the halls and bathrooms. You people are supposed to be grown adults. Until now, MSNBC had been doing a fairly decent job, providing good journalistic information and satisfying my need to demonstrate my dismay and disappointment about our Government. But the crap that has been coming from Congress over the last several weeks, has once again forced me to “RANT”.

CIA versus Nancy Pelosi and Water-boarding –

Good grief people, get a grip. Speaker Pelosi says that the CIA did not brief her on the fact that “Enhanced Interrogations”, were being utilized by CIA operatives in dealing with detainees. “Enhanced Interrogations”, which includes water-boarding, and who knows what else we are unaware of at this time. “Enhanced Interrogations”, doesn’t that sound like code for something much more than you or I could possibly comprehend? Speaker Pelosi went further in a press conference recently when she stated that “the CIA has misled the Congress”. Why anyone, including Congress find this difficult to comprehend baffles this American voter. After all, wasn’t it the CIA that provided the FALSE details that led to the invasion of Iraq? Remember, weapons of mass destruction, Chemical Weapons in Iraq, Yellow Cake in Africa being provided to Saddam Hussein, the Downing Street Memos. Let us not forget, Iran Contra – drugs and guns; then there are these:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2001/may/02/worlddispatch.kateconnolly

CIA knew about Waldheim's Nazi past

Newly released US intelligence documents show that officials knew about Kurt Waldheim's Kate Connolly; history long before he was appointed UN secretary general, writes…

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1207/7481.html

NY Times changes CIA headline for WH

By: Michael Calderone
Dec 19, 2007 03:31 PM EST

The New York Times has changed the sub-headline in Wednesday’s front-page story on the CIA’s destruction of secret interrogation tapes, following a formal request by the White House.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/22/washington/22cia.html

August 22, 2007

C.I.A. Lays Out Errors It Made Before Sept. 11

By MARK MAZZETTI

Correction Appended

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 — A report released Tuesday by the Central Intelligence Agency includes new details of the agency’s missteps before the Sept. 11 attacks, outlining what the report says were failures to grasp the role being played by the terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and to assess fully the threats streaming into the C.I.A. in the summer of 2001.

I am sure I have not included additional documented evidence that the CIA has lied to Americans in the past.

REMEMBER: “Those who do not remember the past are doomed to make the same mistakes”

We don’t even have to remember today…WE HAVE GOOGLE! And believe me Americans are very knowledgeable of the Google. We use it, why can’t our elected officials.

REMEMBER: G.W. BUSH, DICK CHANEY, CONDI RICE, DONALD RUMSFELD, PAUL WOLFOWITZ, AND JOHN ASHCROFT WERE IN CHARGE…WITH ROBERTO GONZALEZ HEADING LEGAL/JUSTICE DURING THE TIME IN QUESTION. REPUBLICANS WERE IN CONTROL OF THE WHITE HOUSE, THE SENATE, THE HOUSE AND THE JUDICIARY BRANCHES OF OUR GOVERNMENT DURING THIS TIME.

It is not that far fetched that Speaker Pelosi is accurate when she states she was not briefed completely and accurately on the facts surrounding CIA Enhanced Interrogations actions.

Additionally, it has occurred to me from listening to an FBI agent’s testimony to Congress recently that the CIA “CONTRACTED” to someone else to conduct “Enhance Interrogations”. WTF, America…it wasn’t even the CIA, it was a “Private Contractor” who conducted the “Enhanced Interrogations”. I think that what should be investigated is who authorized the procurement of the “Private Contractor”? Because, you can bet your last dollar, that Congressional oversight has not investigated this aspect of who authorized “Enhanced Interrogations” and when a contract was approved and by whom. Dr. James Mitchell was definitely paid for his services. Remember, Watergate’s Sins were revealed according to Bob Woodard, by following the money. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=104350361 May 22, 2009

Did White House OK Earliest Detainee Abuse? by Ari Shapiro

All Things Considered, May 20, 2009 · It is clear that increasingly abusive interrogation techniques were used on Abu Zubaydah, the first high-value detainee, in the months between his capture and the first Justice Department memo authorizing harsh interrogations. But the legal guidance that authorized those early interrogations remains shrouded in secrecy.

I haven’t had the opportunity to read the 243 page recently declassified “Report by the Senate Armed Services Committee on Detainee Treatment” (http://documents.nytimes.com/report-by-the-senate-armed-services-committee-on-detainee-treatment#p=1) at the time of this writing, but I plan to dig into it very shortly. I will be looking for those documents that detail how and when money was allocated for the psychologist involved in “Enhanced Interrogation”.