Protecting Nancy Pelosi Trumps National Security
by Holden Watch
The recent announcement that 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed will be tried in federal court in New York brought to mind events from earlier this year involving the Speaker of the House and our own congressman, T. Timothy Holden.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is not a sympathetic figure to most people in Central Pennsylvania. From San Francisco and representing one of the most liberal districts in America, Pelosi is well known as a fierce partisan and radical culture warrior favoring issues most local voters oppose.
Earlier this year, Pelosi claimed that the CIA lied to her and Congress in 2002 about whether waterboarding had been used against terrorism suspects, including Khalid Sheik Mohammed, even though available evidence suggested that she and staff members were thoroughly briefed and approved - or at least didn't protest - the practice.
It's certain that Pelosi is the truth-challenged one.
Pelosi held an embarrassing press conference during the week of May 11 that clearly showed her discomfort. After slandering the prior administration and Americans fighting the war on terror, Pelosi continued to stonewall, desperately looking for a way out of her self-imposed dilemma. Tim Holden helped her.
On Thursday, May 21, 2009, in an attempt to settle this important issue of national security and the accusations of wrongdoing by the CIA, House Republicans attempted to begin an investigation to learn the truth about Pelosi's very serious allegations.
The House voted 252-172 (Roll Call 283) to block a measure that would have created a bipartisan congressional panel to investigate the matter. Tim Holden voted in Pelosi's favor to kill it.
The story gets worse as it gets more interesting.
Again, on June 16, 2009, a second privileged resolution was submitted in the House to establish a bi-partisan select subcommittee under the Intelligence Committee to "review and verify the accuracy of the speaker's"Špublic statements" and report back in 60 days.
Tim Holden was presiding officer of the House when the resolution was considered. He handled his duties shamefully.
Holden rejected the resolution, falsely ruling that the proposal did not comply with the rules for a privileged resolution about actions in the House.
Republicans appealed Holden's ruling and Democrats then demanded a vote to table that appeal. They successfully tabled, or killed, the resolution on a 247-171 party line vote. Tim Holden voted a second time to suppress the truth and, as presiding officer, enabled that suppression.
Why would a representative from a conservative district, one who would have us believe he shares local values, fear learning the truth about his leadership? It's certain that Tim Holden is a close ally of Mrs. Pelosi. He votes with her more than nineteen out of twenty times, and she does approve his earmarks. But the truth is something that should never be sacrificed to partisan interests, especially when national security is involved.
We suspect that Holden knows the truth but doesn't want to share it with us.
His decision to protect Nancy Pelosi serves Tim Holden and, perhaps, his party, but it doesn't serve the country or our national security. It doesn't serve us.