Under the header "Sure Enough: Hoekstra's Got the Goods," Michael Goldfarb (the former McCain campaign blogger, now back with The Weekly Standard) assesses Pete Hoekstra's claim that he has documents proving Nancy Pelosi was briefed on the Bush-Cheney torture program:
She said she'd never been briefed on these techniques, then she said she'd been briefed that they could be used but not that they would or had been used, and now the CIA is saying that she was briefed and Hoekstra is claiming on the record that those briefings included details on the waterboarding of Abu Zubaydah.
How can Democrats in Congress possibly investigate the alleged abuses of the Bush administration when their own leader was complicit in approving the very techniques they would now call torture? If Democrats are at all serious about making this anything but a partisan witch-hunt, the first thing they'll need to do is get their own house in order.
Goldfarb is half-right. This shouldn't be partisan witch-hunt. But his proposed solution to that -- that Dems "get their own house in order" -- is meaningless political rhetoric.
Basically, Goldfarb is saying that if Nancy Pelosi lied about the briefings, then the torture program shouldn't be investigated. That's like saying somebody shouldn't be pulled over for a DUI because their spouse was in the passenger seat.
But Goldfarb is right about the importance of taking this out of the political realm. That's why we need an independent counsel or special prosecutor -- someone both sides can trust, like Patrick Fitzgerald.
Finally, let's not jump to any conclusions about the veracity of Hoekstra's claim. After all, Hoekstra is the same guy who in 2006 claimed hundreds of WMDs had been found in Iraq.
"This says weapons have been discovered, more weapons exist and they state that Iraq was not a WMD-free zone, that there are continuing threats from the materials that are or may still be in Iraq," said Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee.
...Asked why the Bush administration, if it had known about the information since April or earlier, didn't advertise it, Hoekstra conjectured that the president has been forward-looking and concentrating on the development of a secure government in Iraq.
The bottom-line is the same as it should be with any legal case: establish the facts, and apply the law without regard to political party.