It’s pretty clear that the CIA is using Rep. Pete Hoekstra to kneecap Specker Pelosi. What’s not as clear is whether they have some justification for doing so. But I’m not that interested in that debate. Either way, the CIA is trying to beat back any accountability for torturing the crap out of people who were in their custody and at their mercy. And, on that score, I’m not sure they’re using the wisest strategy. The more they implicate Pelosi in knowledge of their torture programs, the harder it is for the Democrats to kill off investigations. Now that Pelosi is under suspicion, it would look self-serving for the Democrats to quash investigations.
Even under the CIA’s version of events, they tortured Zubaydah relentlessly, and months before they got any OLC blessing. When they briefed Pelosi on September 4, 2002 they had a new document from John Yoo and Jay Bybee that said that they could torture, but it’s doubtful that they told Pelosi that they had tortured a prisoner prior to obtaining that document. She says they told her they had the authority, but not that they had already carried out ‘enhanced interrogation techniques.’
They might succeed in making Pelosi look bad but they don’t change a thing about how bad they look themselves. Pelosi is guilty at most of failing to make a formal protest and of later minimizing her knowledge. If true, that’s unfortunate. But it’s not a war crime. It’s not torture. If the worst thing that happens to the Democrats from investigating is that a few of their number are busted for hypocrisy and mendacity, that’s hardly the equivalent of violating the Convention Against Torture. But, now that certain Dems have been brought under a cloud, they are under pressure not to cover-up torture because it will make it look like they are covering their own asses.
