What did President Pelosi know, and when did she know it?

Written by Jamison Foser

Published

Today's Washington Post: “Boehner Says Pelosi Should Back Up Her CIA Allegations”:

Boehner's comments were the latest attempt by Republicans to focus on the speaker's knowledge of interrogation tactics in 2002, when she was the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee. Republicans have suggested that Pelosi, who has criticized the use of controversial interrogation tactics in recent years, did not object to them in private briefings at the time and has given inconsistent comments as to when she learned of the use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

And today's Post article is the latest example of the media going along with that effort. Here's how the Post article concludes:

Pelosi has acknowledged in recent weeks that she learned of the use of waterboarding from an aide who was briefed in 2003. But Pelosi says that by then she was no longer the senior Democrat on the intelligence committee and had little recourse to object to the tactics. The CIA says its records show Pelosi was briefed on the tactics in 2002, which the speaker has adamantly denied. She has asked that the CIA release the notes from that briefing, a request the agency has not granted.

Boehner sidestepped questions about whether Congress should start a formal inquiry into what Pelosi knew in 2002, as some Republicans, including former speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.), have sought.

In the entire article, there is no mention of the fact that Pelosi supports a torture investigation, and the Republicans do not. Instead, the article suggests that the open question is whether there should be a “formal inquiry into what Pelosi knew in 2002” -- as opposed to an investigation into what the Bush administration did. The possibility of a “formal inquiry” with a broader focus than Pelosi isn't even hinted at.

There were new indications last week that the Bush administration used torture to try to get people to “confess” a non-existant link between Iraq and 9/11 so they could justify the Iraq war. And the media is going along with the GOP's absurd efforts to focus on Nancy Pelosi.