CIA Director Leon Panetta struck back at Speaker Nancy Pelosi today in a memorandum to CIA employees saying that she was fully and truthfully briefed in 2002. He indirectly accuses Pelosi of “making hay out” of the CIA and misrepresenting her briefing for political purposes. I discussed the Pelosi story last night on this segment of Countdown.
In his memorandum below, Panetta says “Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, 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.”
He adds “[u]ltimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened.” Leaving this growing controversy to Congress with its continued machinations and manipulations is ridiculous. It is time for a special prosecutor who will not be hampered by grants of congressional immunity and leaked intelligence.
Message from the Director:
There is a long tradition in Washington of making political hay out of our business. It predates my service with this great institution, and it will be around long after I’m gone. But the political debates about interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday when the CIA was accused of misleading Congress.
Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values. As the Agency indicated previously in response to Congressional inquiries, 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.” Ultimately, it is up to Congress to evaluate all the evidence and reach its own conclusions about what happened.
My advice—indeed, my direction—to you is straightforward: ignore the noise and stay focused on your mission. We have too much work to do to be distracted from our job of protecting this country.
We are an Agency of high integrity, professionalism, and dedication. Our task is to tell it like it is—even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it.
For the full story, click here.
With all due respect to Mr. Panetta, he doesn’t have a clue as to how many briefings were conducted and what was said to whom. He wasn’t there, and I’m not particularly interested in his second-hand analysis of selective paperwork. He is attempting to bolster the morale of his employees, as he should. And while I have no great admiration for Rep. Pelosi, I have a great deal of respect for the honesty and integrity of Sen. Graham. His statements reflect that the CIA can’t even get their dates straight on the briefings. So who knows what else we’ll discover as the facts continue to unfold. Let’s wait and see.
The kelly trilogy … BS in triplicate …
Like the CIA would know the truth if it spit in their face.
http://blogdredd.blogspot.com/2009/05/rip-rubber-stamp-congress.html
Just off the top of my head: Iran-Contra (direct violation of the Boland Amendment, passed by the Congress), illegally mining harbors and bombing air stations/power plants in Nicaragua, spying on citizens illegally (thought its entire history), attempts to subvert/overthrow Cuban rule (Bay of Pigs), all the stuff in the Family Jewels reports, illegal experimentation on humans using LSD without their consent/knowledge…
I’m not going to even bother listing anymore areas where the CIA blatantly broke the law and (most of the time) acted either independently of oversight, with only the executive branch aware of their activities, or without any oversight from anyone higher than the CIA director. These are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head. If you really want to see all the illegal/deceptive activities the CIA has engaged in, there are more than enough resources out there for you to look them up for yourself. Don’t take this the wrong way. I don’t necessarily disagree with the actions of the CIA (although I would say I don’t agree with most of them), but I do take issue with the fact that the CIA seeks to hide its activities from oversight over and over again. Now, Director Panetta claims that the CIA never misleads the public or lawmakers. This is wholly untrue. They may have undergone changes over the last decade or so, so I will give him the benefit of the doubt, but the CIA has a long and storied history that requires one to view any claims they make with a great degree of skepticism.
All of this is exacerbated by the politicization of justice. We need an independent court and Justice Department so bad. All these liars and cheaters are unwilling to prosecute each other because everyone has had their fingers in these rotten pies. When everyone in power is dirty or at least complicit, there is no will to enforce the law. We need an independent prosecutor who is willing to throw every single one of these people to the wolves. Throw them all in jail and clean house for all I care. Justice is not a partisan issue.
kelly:
Which Christian Conservative Univ will you be donating your troll wages to?
Oh man, what a pack of two bit losers. Now the CIA is your enemy!
So far everything in America is your enemy except Democrats, Liberals, and naive old Obama.
Oh man, what a pack of two bit losers. Now the CIA is your enemy!
matthew n. Where do you get your information that the CIA has a long history of hiding activities? THE DAILY KOS MORONS or the HUFFINGTON POST LOSERS?
You low life. The CIA is filled with dedicated loyal Americans 500 times the person you and the other half dozen hanger on’s that post in support of the left winger Turley are.
Director please. Who in the Agency has he been talking to and who does he think he’s talking to with these statements? The CIA has two functions; intelligence and operations. Operations is where the rocknroll happens. It’s their job to lie, cheat. steal, manipulate, agitate, subvert and when deemed necessary, kill. To say the CIA wouldn’t lie to Congress flies in the face of a significant part of its job. It’s a lie on its face.
Do I believe Pelosi didn’t know or have reason to believe that torture was an active aspect of the program? Srsly, even I’m not that stupid.
All this proves is that you really can’t trust anyone having anything to do with the government. The CIA has a long history of hiding its activities from lawmakers. Lawmakers have a long tradition of lying about everything under the sun. Just another case of the pot calling the kettle black. Throw them all into the fire.
Say hi to FAT BOY Keith Olbermann for us.
re: Your comments about Cheney asking someone be “wateboarded”:
Turley, apparently you missed Duelfer on rachel maddows show when he stated that it was nothing MORE THAN AN INQUIRY BY CHENEY’S STAFF AS TO WHETHER HARSH INTERROGATION HAD BEEN USED!
Duelfer clearly stated that when the response was negative on harsh interrogation the office of the VP dropped the suggestion.
You see Turley, you left winger, it was a question, not a REQUEST, not an ORDER, not a DEMAND, it was a QUESTION.
In other words, Cheney’s office asks if the subject had harsh interrogation used on him in an effort to get information. When the response was negative that was the end of the questions from the VP’s office!
PS. this was SADDAM’s information minister, a man no doubt guilty of the murder of many MANY Iraquis.
Like wise, thanks MAS.
MAS,
That is very well said.
I will be satisfied with nothing less than the full disclosure of the relevant facts and the prosecution of those who broke the law, regardless of political affiliation. Such a prosecution should be conducted only with a passion to see the law served and not as an opportunity to mill political capital. If there are mitigating circumstances, let them be weighed by a judge and jury in open court, not by sycophantic hand wringing and deliberate misdirection in the media. If this selfish game continues unabated, America Loses her heart and soul.
Leon Panetta would do wel to remember Geroge H.W. Bush’s advice
to him when he took on the position Congress would do well to return the same courtesy…
http://intelligence.senate.gov/090205/panetta.pdf
… ” In preparing for this day, I had the opportunity to talk with most of the former Directors of CIA. They gave me excellent advice and shared many lessons learned, especially President George H.W. Bush, who ran CIA and, later, was its most important
consumer. They all told me to listen carefully to the professionals at the Agency, but also to stay closely engaged with Congress. If confirmed, that is exactly what I intend to
do…”
“Our task is to tell it like it is—even if that’s not what people always want to hear. Keep it up. Our national security depends on it.”
Slam Dunk, Leon!!!
CIA can and will, no doubt, remain focused as long as what they are tasked with passes legal muster. Under Obama it does.
And unless they were involved directly and knowingly with the misadventures wrought by ‘The Dicks’/George’slam-dunk’ Tenet administrations, they will be covered.
Those of us who are on the same team will make sure of it.
Do the lies surrounding the reasons for the invasion of Iraq count as misleading Congress? Or was that just misleading the American public?
Here’s a link on CNN that also speaks about this issue
http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/15/pelosi.waterboarding/index.html?iref=mpstoryview
‘Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values.’
Now rendition and torture are within those laws and values, Leon? Just making sure I have everything clear here…