Bush Torture Witch-hunt Could Take Pelosi Down Too

By John Aloysius Farrell, Thomas Jefferson Street blog

Do we really want to see the first woman speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives resign in disgrace as an enabler of torture?

That is a not-so-wild prediction of what may have to happen if the Left keeps pushing for show trials over U.S. interrogation methods after the 9-11 attacks.

It is undeniable that Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other Democratic leaders were briefed about the CIA's interrogation methods.

And conservatives are asking, fairly, whether the various proposals to stage Capital Hill hearings or independent commissions won't have to address the question of congressional complicity.

They should, and they will.

So, if you believe that former President Bush and former Defense Secretary Don Rumsfeld and other high-ranking officials should face a public burning for their roles in this drama, how can you not include Pelosi as well?

You must.

I'm not an apologist for torture. As Tom Friedman pointed out the other day, more than a hundred individuals died in American custody in the war on terror. Very bad things were done in our name.

But President Obama is correct. We are still waging that war. The last thing we need is a circus that divides and distracts us.

And you know what? We are all complicit. To one degree or another, almost all of us went along.

Witch-hunting liberals, motivated by their hatred for Bush, would be wise to spend time thinking about the potential unintended consequences of their demands. There is only top-ranking official from the era, still in town, still wielding a gavel.

They may shoot at Bush, and hit Pelosi. 

Check out our political cartoons.

• Read more by John Aloysius Farrell.
• Read more from the Thomas Jefferson Street blog.
• Read more about torture.