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McClatchy misrepresented Panetta response to Pelosi

May 29, 2009 8:58 am ET
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SUMMARY: A McClatchy article mischaracterized Leon Panetta's response to Nancy Pelosi's allegation that during a secret briefing in 2002, the CIA had misled her about its use of waterboarding.

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A May 28 McClatchy Newspapers article about Republican ads targeting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) mischaracterized CIA director Leon Panetta's May 15 response to her allegation that during a secret briefing in 2002, the CIA had misled her about its use of waterboarding. McClatchy stated: "Republicans note that the day after Pelosi made her [May 14] statement about the CIA, Leon Panetta ... said CIA officials told her the truth." In fact, in his May 15 statement, Panetta said, "It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress [emphasis added]" and that "our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully. ... Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened." As Politico's White House reporter Josh Gerstein noted in a May 18 post, "Panetta didn't reject or deny ... Pelosi's allegations that she was falsely briefed by the CIA about interrogations. Look carefully at Panetta's statement from Friday [May 15], especially the verb tense used. ... Panetta isn't opining on past acts. He's referring to the current policy. He's also not saying it never happens or happened that someone lied to or misled Congress. He's saying the agency as a whole doesn't intend to."

From the May 28 McClatchy article, titled, "Anti-Pelosi ads, calls to begin in districts GOP has sights on":

Republicans on Thursday began unleashing a barrage of television and radio ads, as well as robo-calls, aimed at discrediting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in congressional districts held by Democrats they see as vulnerable.

The effort is the latest signal that despite the California Democrat's insistence that she has no more to say about her May 14 assertion that in 2002 the Central Intelligence Agency misled her and Congress on torture policy, the political firestorm it created continues to smolder.

The latest GOP effort includes a television ad titled "Explanation: Impossible," as well as 32-second recorded phone calls with a woman telling listeners she had an "important voter alert" about how the local congressman "voted to block an investigation" into Pelosi's May 14 comments.

Republicans note that the day after Pelosi made her statement about the CIA, Leon Panetta, the agency director and a former Democratic congressman from California, said CIA officials told her the truth.

The next week, however, the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives soundly rejected a Republican-led effort to create a bipartisan committee to investigate Pelosi's statements. Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the House GOP leader, wants Pelosi to either document her claims or to apologize.

— J.K.F.
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    • Author by wesley (May 29, 2009 2:54 pm ET)
         
      -- Look carefully at Panetta's statement...especially the verb tense used -- mmfa

      Sweet fancy Moses...mmfa still pedantically beating the "verb tense" drum.

      Panetta was very clear that Pelosi was briefed on the facts concerning interrogation and it's evident that Pelosi is telling a falsehood or is extremely incompetent.

      -- our contemporaneous records from September 2002 indicate that CIA officers briefed truthfully on the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, describing “the enhanced techniques that had been employed.” -- Panetta
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      • Author by anotheramerican (May 29, 2009 4:26 pm ET)
           
        Wesley,

        It comes from all that conditioning during the Clinton years. Some habits die hard.

        Only the most radical left kool-aid drinkers will fall for Josh Gerstein's laughable argument.
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    • Author by solon (May 30, 2009 3:44 am ET)
         
      You two are a joke. There is no evidence that Pelosi lied. Panetta wasnt there. The CIA has memos showing they briefed Congressmen on days that briefings never happened. They have been shown flat out wrong several times. You believe what you want to then just SAY its true. AA, as brainwashed as you are reading you talk to us about koolaid is about like hearing a lecture on shoe fetishes from Imelda Marcos
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      • Author by anotheramerican (May 30, 2009 11:14 am ET)
           
        So you are calling Panetta a liar?

        Funny line about the shoes Dr. Scholl. :-)
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        • Author by rsinebada7366 (May 30, 2009 1:52 pm ET)
             
          another american: So, the CIA would lie???? NO??????? When has the CIA ever lied or assassinated people or overturned Democratic governments in developing nations or tortured Gitmo and Abu Graib detainees. Go back and read "Church Committee" report. How naive you are.
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          • Author by Craig (May 30, 2009 5:14 pm ET)
            1  
            I think I can help. The CIA, required by law to inform congress about its secret activities, claims they briefed Pelosi on the illegal interrogation techniques they were using. Pelosi claims they didn't.

            But the new CIA director, who was not with the CIA at the time of the briefing, says its not the policy or practice of the CIA mislead Congress, even though there are numerous examples of them doing just that in the past. Furthermore, the CIA says their records, based on their best recollections, support their version of events, although the director noted that the accuracy of the CIA records needed to be determined and two other congressmen found that what the records say about them is incorrect.

            The conclusion is inescapable. Pelosi is a liar.
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            • Author by solon (May 30, 2009 6:10 pm ET)
                 
              The inescapable conclusion is you are delusional. We KNOW the records are NOT accurate the CIA admits it and it has been PROVEN. Panetta says it isnt their POLICY but we all know that it DOES happen AND that the records they are relying on have been PROVEN INACCURATE. The inescapable conclusion YOU come up with is based on what you WANT to be true and nothing else
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              • Author by Craig (May 30, 2009 6:23 pm ET)
                1  
                Forgot the sarcasm tags again. That's what I was trying to say. Wesley and Flagee reached their conclusion independently of the evidence.
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                • Author by solon (May 30, 2009 7:16 pm ET)
                     
                  No your post was good. The fault was my reading comprehension
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        • Author by solon (May 30, 2009 6:07 pm ET)
             
          I am saying he wasnt there. We KNOW the CIA was wrong about several of their memos. They were PROVEN to not be accurate. PANETTA doesnt have a crystal ball nor any mind reading abilities so he doesnt know and if he is saying the CIA doesnt lie and lie to congress then YES he is a liar. They DO, they have admitted it, its public record and common knowledge. You have NO evidence beyond he said she said to say Pelosi lied it is THAT simple
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    • Author by papau (May 30, 2009 10:54 pm ET)
         
      Why do assertions that are lies get posted by the GOP posters on this site? The CIA says they have no detail transcript, no outline of what was to be said, nothing, about what was asserted to be the topics on each day noted in the document called "briefings to Congress". Then they admit that the names of the attendees, and the dates of the briefings, have been proven to be in error. So the CIA summary of Congressional briefings twitter level memories collection proves nothing. It is left to the reader to find a reason that the CIA, a group that invented massive detailed files held forever, has lost the "torture briefings to Congress" files - for each and every date they claimed there was a briefing - indeed Congressional note taking is where we find out that after the Pelosi 2002 briefing, in 2003, the CIA came out and said the the list of "enhanced interrogation techniques" that were in use included the use of waterboarding - and later we learn from Powell's staff that it was not to find out about and prevent planned acts of terror - but only to provide Cheney CYA for his unfounded assertion that Saddam was working with the 9/11 terrorists or their leaders or friends.
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    • Author by bec2112 (May 31, 2009 2:20 am ET)
         
      I don't believe Pelosi is schizophrenic. Although her perception and expression of reality seem distorted to me (and many others), that by itself does not a schizophrenic make. My best guess is that she is a drug addict. She appears agitated, but not in a nervous way. She has difficulty putting thoughts together and she suffers from dry mouth—a common side effect of prolonged use of Ambien (a very addictive sleep aid). In addition, her dependence on antidepressants in an almost certainty. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac, Luvox, Zoloft and Paxil if not taken correctly for actual clinical depression (not just coping with life), can lead to anxiety, restlessness, dry mouth, tremors and sweating. Bingo.
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      • Author by Craig (May 31, 2009 6:56 pm ET)
           
        I don't know if you're mentally ill or on drugs. Some people are that confused naturally. Yahtzee!
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