Senate Leaders Opposes Interrogation Inquiry Panel (Reid joins Obama in opposition)

[jefferson_dem]

Senate Leaders Opposes Interrogation Inquiry Panel
By David M. Herszenhorn AND Carl Hulse

Senate Democratic leaders, joining forces with the Obama White House, said they would resist efforts by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other prominent Democrats to create a special commission to investigate the harsh interrogation methods that the Bush administration approved for terrorism suspects.

At a meeting of top Democrats at the White House Wednesday night, President Obama told Congressional leaders that he did not want a special inquiry, which he said would potentially steal time and energy from his ambitious policy priorities, and could mushroom into a wider distraction by looking back at other aspects of the Bush years.

The Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, and other top Senate Democrats endorsed Mr. Obama’s view on Thursday, telling reporters that they preferred to wait for the results of an investigation by the Senate intelligence committee expected sometime “late this year.” But Ms. Pelosi renewed her call for an independent panel.

Mr. Reid, who repeatedly denounced the use of harsh interrogation techniques when Mr. Bush was president, suggested that naming a special panel would signal an intent to exact “retribution” and he sought to paper over the disagreement with members of his own caucus, like Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, who want a commission.

“I don’t think there is a division among Democrats,” Mr. Reid said. “Justice must be served. Retribution should not be a part of what we’re talking about.” He said that it was premature to act without facts to be provided by the intelligence committee. “They will make a public report,” he said. “I hope that it will come toward the end of this year.”

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http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/23/senate-leaders-opposes-interrogation-inquiry-panel/?hp

[Blue_In_AK]

1. Sorry, Harry, I WANT retribution. n/t

[jefferson_dem]

2. That can be handled by the Justice Dept., free from any hint of "political posturing."

In my opinion.

[Blue_In_AK]

5. I don't care where it comes from

just so long as these bastards pay for what they've done.

[Ian David]

3. Dickless Harry strikes again. What do the Repukes have on him anyway?

I say we lock Dickless Harry in Yuca Mountain with the rest of the toxic waste.

[monmouth]

9. Maybe he was wiretapped too....n/t

[Ian David]

15. Maybe they have photos of him in his wife's magic underpants. n/t

[AtomicKitten]

4. They will encounter a shitstorm of resistance if they try to squash this.

And I'm assuming they don't speak for the Dept. of Justice.

:mad:

[Jennicut]

6. A panel is NOT needed. Le the DOJ act. Nothing ever comes from panels.

[Zodiak]

8. Even worse....whitewashes come from these panels

You know how it will be...half of the panel must be Republican, and half Democrat. The Republicans all take the same Neocon position and cajole some conservative Democrats on the other side, and whammo!....whitewash. Hell, they'd probably put Holy Joe on the commission as a Democrat just to look bipartisan.

The 9/11 commission was crap, and this commission would probably have much the same make-up.

Let the report come out. The most I can expect from Congress is to stay the hell out of the way.

[AtomicKitten]

10. worse, they never completed the second half of the 9/11 report

They decided to hold it so as not to influence the 2004 election and never went back and completed it. It was supposed to have explored BushCo's misuse of the crap intelligence they mined. Assholes.

[Zodiak]

14. Yeah, Congress is a pathetic disappointment

I would not trust them to do anything without getting the stink of political crap all over it, most of that crap coming from pukes and their Democratic wannabes.

[jefferson_dem]

13. A single image from history that illustrates the problem with a "truth panel"...

I know. It makes me vomit too. But we don't need to create another "Ollie", for Gawd's sake.

[Thrill]

7. Just let Holder and the Dawn Johnson handle this. Democrats stay away

Well whenever they decide to confirm her

[vaberella]

11. Exactly. No one else but DOJ. Dems are up for questioning. n/t

[alcibiades_mystery]

12. A panel is useless at this point

Let DOJ operate without giving the impression of this being some kind of political show trial.

[Supersedeas]

16. other aspects of the Bush years?? Like the justification for war in Iraq....