My, what a week it has been. Last week I wrote about how House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was caught in a “lie” when she denied ever being briefed by the CIA about interrogation practices being used on terrorists, including waterboarding. Yesterday, she claimed that the CIA lied to her.

In what can only be called a bizarre event, Pelosi held a press conference over the CIA briefing she received back in 2002 when she was the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. During a flurry of questions and rambling answers, Pelosi became visible uncomfortable. She would periodically wander away from the podium, come back and shuffle her papers, and then stammer as she was trying to find the correct page with her pre-written statement. However, the whole event could be summarized by one exchange with a reporter in the audience.

Reporter: “Madam Speaker, just to be clear, you’re accusing the CIA of lying to you in September of 2002.”

Pelosi: “Yes, misleading the Congress of the United States. Misleading the Congress of the United States.”

Reporter: “And doing it again now as they released this list of briefings that says you were briefed on the interrogation tactics that were used.”

Pelosi: “I’m quoting what the head of the CIA said. This is … we don’t know if this information is accurate that he’s talking about. What they briefed us on, and perhaps they should release the briefings, I would be very happy if they would release the briefings. And then you will see what they briefed in one time and one time in another, House and Senate and the rest, and perhaps with the intense interest this has generated because of the distraction that the Republicans want to cause with this then you can make a judgement yourself about what you think these briefings were. But I’m telling you that they talked about interrogations that they’ve done and said, “We want to use enhanced techniques and we have legal opinions that say they are ok. We are not using waterboarding.” That’s the only mention that they were not using it, and we now know that earlier they were.

So yes I am saying that they are misleading … that the CIA was misleading the Congress. And at the same time the Administration was misleading the Congress on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, to which I said that this intelligence does not support the imminent threat to which the press asked the same question you just did now, “Are you accusing them of lying.” I said, “I’m just stating a fact.”

This accusation against the CIA did not sit well with the intelligence community. Leon Panetta, the current CIA Director, published a memo to his employees today defending them as well as the information currently provided by the CIA to the public. In it, he 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.’”

The rebuke by Director Panetta caused Pelosi to change her tone. In a written statement today, she responded by saying, “We all share great respect for the dedicated men and women of the intelligence community who are deeply committed to the safety and security of the American people. My criticism of the manner in which the Bush Administration did not appropriately inform Congress is separate from my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep our country safe.”

In the past week, we’ve seen Pelosi swear she hasn’t been briefed on waterboarding, only to change her story. Then, we’ve seen Pelosi accuse the CIA of lying to Congress, only to change her story (again). I’m curious … What will be the story to be corrected next week?

Related articles:
Yahoo News – “Pelosi in dispute with CIA over interrogation”
The New York Times – “Pelosi Acknowledges She Was Told of Waterboarding in 2003″
Breitbart – “Pelosi says she learned of waterboarding in 2003″
The Washington Post – “Speaker’s Comments Raise Detainee Debate to New Level”
The Politico – “Panetta to CIA employees: We told Pelosi the truth”

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