No one distorts the truth better than the Republican Party. This is the party the cheered us into a war based on lies. The first shot in this most recent distraction from the truly important issue of prosecuting the architects and implementors off the American torture program was fired by Karl Rove, in his essay Nancy Pelosi was an accomplice to 'torture.' Let us not forget who Karl Rove is. Karl Rove is dirty trickster behind Bush. He's the man who manipulated the democratic process to keep African Americans from voting in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. Karl Rove is the man behind the many lies and distortions that put George Bush in office. Karl Rove revels in dirty tricks and prides himself in his lack of ethics and veracity. If there is a man living within the American Empire that can be trusted less than anyone else, it is the liar Karl Rove.

Joining Karl Rove in his charges against Pelosi is the CIA. The CIA is, amongst all agencies of the US Government, the agency whose very job it is to engage in subterfuge, disinformation, deception, opposition to democratic institutions, and most recently, torture. The CIA is to the United States Government what Karl Rove is to the conservative movement. No finer pair of ethically vacant entities could be found beneath any rock in any swamp on Earth. To imagine, even for a moment, that the CIA is an agency whose word is to be trusted is to live in the wold of fairy tales. Absolutely nothing the CIA says should be taken at face value.

Should we trust Ms. Pelosi when she says the CIA lied to her? Absolutely not! She is a politician and her primary motivation in all that she does is her reelection. Given the finger pointing between the least trustworthy of Americans and a politician, it is best for us to remain agnostic as to whether or not Pelosi was briefed that the CIA was engaged in torture. We lose absolutely nothing in remaining agnostic because the truth in the matter of the veracity of Pelosi carries consequences infinitesimally smaller than the greater issue. That greater issue is whether this government will prosecute the architects of torture and the torturers. If in the end Ms. Pelosi is included among the defendants, so be it. Who really cares about the exact number of Americans behind the crimes, provided, in the end, they all meet justice?

This finger pointing by Karl Rove and his backing my the unethical and morally depraved CIA is nothing more than a distraction. It is another of his dirty tricks. It is the finger pointing of the con man who wants us to look at some irrelevant object while his hands are busy committing a crime. We should not be distracted by these accusations. Instead, we should demand prosecution for the crimes.

Ms. Pelosi should continue to call for an investigation into the torture program. We should demand that the Congress investigate this issue and appoint an independent prosecutor. Let the heads of all involved fall, regardless of their party affiliation.