At the same time House Speaker Nancy Pelosi began cranking up the push for a "truth commission" to investigate Bush officials for their involvement in the use of interrogation techniques on prisoners, she found herself taking fire for her contribution to the mess.

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Porter Goss, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee – where at the time Pelosi was the ranking Democrat – recalled the two of them along with other members being briefed, and recalled no objections made whatsoever.

"We were briefed, and we certainly understood what C.I.A. was doing," said Goss. "Not only was there no objection, there was actually concern about whether the agency was doing enough."

Long before waterboarding became an issue, Pelosi and ranking congressional leaders were given about 30 private briefings, some of which included descriptions of how waterboarding and other interrogation techniques were used, U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge told the Washington Post.

But whoa, hold up. Pelosi has a very reasonable explanation for this, I'm sure.

"We were not – I repeat – were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," she said at a press briefing last week, clearly a bit unsettled.

Pelosi didn't raise any concern during the briefings, she said, because while she had been informed that the techniques were going to be used, she wasn't informed that they had been used.

For many Republicans, however, that explanation didn't pass the smell test. Evidently it didn't for some of Pelosi's own staffers, either.

"As soon as the president made the decision to release [the memos], I was telling people that the Republicans were going to come after us, saying she knew about it and did nothing," an adviser to Pelosi told Politico on condition of anonymity. "I'm sure we're going to get hammered again when they release all those new torture photos."

Obama suggested last week that he would be open to an interrogation panel, but the White House switched gears Thursday, saying that for now, they would block any investigation of that kind.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, responded similarly, leaving Pelosi all by herself, saying that it would be "unwise" to have such commissions and investigations until the facts come to surface.

It must feel quite lonely for Pelosi out there in deep left field.


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