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Another Lawmaker Points To An Error In CIA Briefings Doc
Here's yet more evidence -- as if it were needed -- that that CIA briefing document that Republicans are trying to hang around Nancy Pelosi's neck is hardly a reliable source of information.
Rep. David Obey, who chairs the appropriations committee, just sent the following letter to CIA director Leon Panetta:
Dear Director Panetta:In light of current controversy about CIA briefing practices, I was surprised to learn that the agency erroneously listed an appropriations staffer as being in a key briefing on September 19, 2006, when in fact he was not. The list the agency released entitled "Member Briefings on Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs)", shows that House Appropriations Committee defense appropriations staffer Paul Juola was in that briefing on that date. In fact, Mr. Juola recollects that he walked members to the briefing room, met General Hayden and Mr.Walker, who were the briefers, and was told that he could not attend the briefing. We request that you immediately correct this record.
Sincerely,
David R. Obey
Obey joins Sen. Jay Rockefeller, former senator Bob Graham, and of course Pelosi herself in pointing to inaccuracies in the CIA document.
And, though most of the media was fooled by last week's statement, Panetta himself isn't guaranteeing that the document is accurate.
Josh
Zachary
I'd like to see Nancy Pelosi come out with a statement thanking Leon Panetta for his assurance that the errors in the CIA's records were not made as a matter of policy.
May 19, 2009 11:47 AM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent idea!
May 19, 2009 4:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yup.
May 19, 2009 9:40 PM | Reply | Permalink
The question that follows immediately is: who wrote this CIA briefing document?
A left-over from Bush? Someone who would be at risk if the torture regime was investigated, and those responsible prosecuted?
May 19, 2009 12:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah, wonder if they'll spend another week on "Morning Joe" discussing everyone else who is also pointing to CIA, um, "inaccuracies". Oh wait, that wouldn't allow the GOP shills to attack Pelosi all the time.
I've barely heard a peep in the MSM about Bob Graham's significant statements. He takes meticulous notes, and anyone who cares to listen would learn that CIA's claims about particular briefings did not match Graham's notes. Is Graham a liar? Is Obey? Is Rockefeller? There's a slow drip developing here, and it's not what the GOP and their MSM cheerleaders were expecting.
Bring on the truth commission. Pelosi wants it, and that's not how someone who wants to hide something behaves.
May 19, 2009 12:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Pelosi wants a "Truth (as we see it)Commission" like I want a root canal sans anesthetics. Anything less than a truly independent prosecutor would hide the culpability and incompetence of Congress, and none of the POWERS THAT BE, including Leahy and Pelosi wants that.
May 19, 2009 12:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Wow, you really hit the nail on the head there. Let's fire up the investigation of the Bush / Cheney torture policies ASAP so we can watch all those dems squirm.
Yeah, that'll show 'em. Think they can be in the minority and that's a defense against the other parties actions...
May 19, 2009 4:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
InterroGate!
May 19, 2009 9:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why should they start listening to him now? He said BEFORE Shock and Awe that the intelligence did not support the conclusions in the NIE shown to Congress. He BEGGED every member to read the whole thing, and not just the summary, before voting whether or not to go to war. They didn't listen to him, and neither did the MSM beyond brief coverage.
May 19, 2009 9:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
My bet is that (some at) the CIA are relying on lawmakers' compliance with the rule that they not take any notes of these meetings, and faith that the CIA's written "record" will trump their recollections.
May 19, 2009 12:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
Here's the bigger picture we can all see through the haze of these daily updates: Torture ... CIA ... Republicans ... Didn't work ... Illegal ... Torture... Truth Commission... The Boner....
May 19, 2009 12:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Maybe Panetta can just point out the parts of the briefing document that's CORRECT, that'll be faster.
May 19, 2009 12:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Louise, the GOP's main argument seems to be, "Why didn't you do more to stop this illegal and ineffective tactic while you were the minority party in the House and Senate during a Republican administration?"
May 19, 2009 1:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
But can Stephanopoulos, Gregory, SWcheiffer, Blitzer, Williams, Lehrer, any of them SEE this?
No.
Broadcast TV news is a joke with a Republican punch line.
May 19, 2009 9:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
For what it's worth, I just ran a search for the term "enhanced interrogation technique" in a major "all news" electronic database. Although there were many stories using that term since 2005, there were none during 2002. See below.
No documents were found for your FOCUS search terms ""enhanced interrogation technique" and date(geq (01/01/2001) and leq (01/01/2003)) "
May 19, 2009 1:31 PM | Reply | Permalink
This sort of attendance recording error occurs all the time and is much ado about relatively little, except for clearing Paul Juola's name in this particular regard.
What this TPM post is an example of is the "throw all the mud you can and hope enough sticks" technique of disinformation.
May 19, 2009 2:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
This sort of attendance recording error occurs all the time
Yikes - you'd think something that simple could be kept straight.
I don't suppose you have a source you'd like to cite as evidence to support that bland assertion?
May 19, 2009 4:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Particularly with respect to CIA briefings of Congress where ONLY the CIA personnel present are allowed to take notes.
BTW, in many years of taking and reviewing meeting notes, I can't say I've seen many errors in matter of the "who was attending."
May 19, 2009 9:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
This Pelosi attack is meant to defer attention to her performance as Speaker and away from investigating war crimes but it hopefully will backfire and get investigations and a special prosecutor going. Obama and Reid are doing everything possible to avoid an investigation and prosecution.
How Holder can justify "Holdering" back an investigation is mind boggling. The entire world knows Bush and Cheney and Rumsfeld, Gonzales and gang should be in prison and are amazed watching America try to deal with our increasing hypocrisy.
Law...what law...can't enforce the law on our gov. officials as they are above the law and the terrorists might be listening.
"Yes Cheney raped and murdered your daughter but it was a long time ago and we have so much more to deal with...can't you just forget about it?"
May 19, 2009 2:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey, let's out some CIA briefers for lying.
My money's on the idea that the CIA members that were doing the briefings were hand-picked or approved by the OVP.
Nancy should have differentiated between the Agency as a whole, and the ones sent by Cheney's minion, Tenet, to lie to Congress.
What if someone outed one of these oh-so-unimportant office chairwarmers?
I mean, if Cheney's staff can out an undercover weapons prevention specialist from the CIA who travels regularly to the Middle East, it shouldn't be a stretch to out some weasel from the front office at Langley.
BTW, bet they were green badgers...
May 19, 2009 6:43 PM | Reply | Permalink