Ari Fleischer speaks the truth: It's a 'Senate Democrats only' report, not a 'Senate report'

Greg P. | 12:54 PM on December 09, 2014

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer reminds us that Sen. Feinstein’s report on CIA interrogations is not as complete a picture as she or members of the MSM would have you believe:

This is not a "Senate" report. It's a report by Senate Democrats only.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) December 9, 2014

The Senate Democrat report on the CIA did not interview the CIA officers involved. There are two sides to every story, including this one.

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) December 9, 2014

CIA officers who worked there at the time have set up a webpage w their side of the story. http://t.co/LGF0jv3F8E

— Ari Fleischer (@AriFleischer) December 9, 2014

And the WSJ just posted an op-ed by “former CIA Directors George J. Tenet, Porter J. Goss and Michael V. Hayden (a retired Air Force general), and former CIA Deputy Directors John E. McLaughlin, Albert M. Calland (a retired Navy vice admiral) and Stephen R. Kappes” which further defends CIA actions that, in their words, “saved lives.”

Here’s the opener:

The Senate Intelligence Committee’s report on Central Intelligence Agency detention and interrogation of terrorists, prepared only by the Democratic majority staff, is a missed opportunity to deliver a serious and balanced study of an important public policy question. The committee has given us instead a one-sided study marred by errors of fact and interpretation—essentially a poorly done and partisan attack on the agency that has done the most to protect America after the 9/11 attacks.

Examining how the CIA handled these matters is an important subject of continuing relevance to a nation still at war. In no way would we claim that we did everything perfectly, especially in the emergency and often-chaotic circumstances we confronted in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. As in all wars, there were undoubtedly things in our program that should not have happened. When we learned of them, we reported such instances to the CIA inspector general or the Justice Department and sought to take corrective action.

The country and the CIA would have benefited from a more balanced study of these programs and a corresponding set of recommendations. The committee’s report is not that study. It offers not a single recommendation.

Our view on this is shared by the CIA and the Senate Intelligence Committee’s Republican minority, both of which are releasing rebuttals to the majority’s report. Both critiques are clear-eyed, fact-based assessments that challenge the majority’s contentions in a nonpartisan way.