Pelosi on clarity

Joseph Curl:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, her eyes wide, her hands gesticulating wildly, on Thursday laid out a third version of what she knew and when she knew it about the Bush administration's interrogation policies, edging ever closer to debating what the meaning of the word "is" is.

With even her own second-in-command now demanding more answers, the California Democrat, her voice barely audible at times, read a rambling statement at her weekly press briefing about her prior knowledge of the "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EITs) employed under President Bush, insisting that she was not told in a September 2002 briefing that the U.S. government used waterboarding.

Minutes later, though, she acknowledged for the first time that her top security adviser had learned details of a February 2003 briefing in which lawmakers were told that American interrogators were in fact waterboarding suspected terrorists.

"My statement is clear, and let me read it again. Let me read it again. I'm sorry. I have to find the page," said a flustered Mrs. Pelosi, shuffling through papers, her hands quivering a bit, as she sought to stick to her prepared text.

"When -- when -- when my staff person -- I'm sorry, the page is out of order -- five months later, my staff person told me that there had been a briefing -- informing that there had been a briefing and that a letter had been sent. I was not briefed on what was in that briefing; I was just informed that the briefing had taken place," she said.

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While Curl rights for the Washington Times and can be expected to be somewhat critical of Pelosi, Dana Milbanks of the Washington Post was equally as critical.

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"My statement is clear, and let me read it again. Let me read it again," she said. She looked for her statement. "I'm sorry, I have to find the page," she said. She read a few lines, then paused. "I'm sorry, I had the pages out of order." By now she had begun to employ her hands in the conversation, raising an index finger, circling her hands and finally moving both hands as if conducting an orchestra.

ABC's Jonathan Karl wanted to make sure he'd heard right. "You're accusing the CIA of lying to you?"

"Yes, misleading the Congress of the United States," Pelosi repeated. As she answered, she held a fist up, waved her index finger, formed her hand into an O, pushed her hair back, then resumed leading the orchestra. She appeared to have developed a case of dry mouth and was swallowing hard.

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Her statements lack logical consistency. She is apparently the only person in the 2002 conversation with the CIA who thinks she was not told about the Zubaydah interrogation and the use of enhanced methods. Both the CIA and Porter Goss who was also being brief say they were told. Then she acknowledges that her staffer told her in 2003 about the use of waterboarding, and she knew that Jane Harmon objected to it, though Pelosi never did until it became a political club to beat the Bush administration.

The more Pelosi claims clarity the more clear it becomes that she is obfuscating.

Newt Gingrich speaks out against the speaker:

"I think she has lied to the House, and I think that the House has an absolute obligation to open an inquiry, and I hope there will be a resolution to investigate her. And I think this is a big deal. I don't think the Speaker of the House can lie to the country on national security matters,” Gingrich said.

He continued: "I think this is the most despicable, dishonest and vicious political effort I've seen in my lifetime."

"She is a trivial politician, viciously using partisanship for the narrowist of purposes, and she dishonors the Congress by her behavior."

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I think he holds her conduct in low regard.