Pelosi Raises Stakes in Torture Debate

Whether by accident or design, Nancy Pelosi has turned the debate on the Bush administration's anti-terror program into a high-stakes game of brinksmanship, Dan Balz writes in the Washington Post. Pelosi's declaration yesterday that the CIA lied to Congress amounts to "a declaration of war," Balz writes, setting the stage for a long battle certain to claim political casualties.

Pelosi has made herself a target for the right and a hero to the left over the issue, Balz writes, much as Dick Cheney has made himself the figurehead for defense of Bush's policies. The speaker "has assured that she will remain a central character in the political fight that is raging," Balz writes, but "she also succeeded in enlarging a controversy that is no longer a sideshow." (More Nancy Pelosi stories.)