When to Fold ‘Em

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has declined to comment further on what the CIA did, or did not, tell her with regard to its interrogations of suspected terrorists, a noteworthy softening of her previous accusations. Ms. Pelosihas accused the agency of concealing harsh interrogation methods from her, while the agency has produced briefing documents indicating Ms. Pelosi did, in fact, have knowledge of those methods. The Speaker’s recent decision not to push her accusations further seems finally an act of reason; she knows a losing hand, and she knows when to lay the cards down, that point at which keeping up the game is only an exhibition of futile pride.

Commentator Ken Spain explains: “Her obsession with the previous administration, and her disdain for America’s intelligence officials, has reduced her to… a distraction to the substantive debate.”

"Briefing documents?"

Rogers’ Rangers

Given his independent temperament, Robert Rogers was appropriately born in New Hampshire, in 1731. He later travelled along Lake Michigan and the Pacific coast as an explorer, brawler, trader, trapper, and frontiersman, exploring the Appalachians and inventing the name “Oregon” for the area he cleared. Thirty years later, Meriwether Lewis would return to map it.

Rogers spent his early adulthood as an Indian fighter for the British colonies, but was facing indictment for counterfeiting in 1755 when the French and Indian War broke out. The indictment was dropped on the condition Rogers join the war effort and he did so wholeheartedly, applying himself and the skills he’d learned as an outdoorsman with such vigor and effectiveness that modern-day U.S. Army Rangers trace their lineage directly to his eighteenth century example.

Robert Rogers.

Rogers was given command of the Independent Company of Rangers, a rag-tag outfit of men like himself, which he fashioned into an early guerilla unit known for lightening-fast raids and nighttime operations. The Rangers dressed uniformly in green woolen trousers and shirts, designed by their commander to match their woodsy surroundings. They wore quiet Indian moccasins and Scottish berets, less noticeable than the regular tri-corner military caps, and from these descended the Army Rangers’ trademark beret.

The Independent Rangers learned, under Rogers, to fight savagely but cling to one another. They tracked enemies through dark woods, moved silently between trees, set invisible traps, and adhered strictly to “Rogers’ Rules,” their leader’s set of favorite idioms, among them: “Every man’s… judgment must be his guide, according to the particular situation and nature of things.” The men prized adaptability.

In 1759, Rogers led the Rangers over 150 miles of Canadian wilderness to attack a French outpost, inspiring the film “Northwest Passage” centuries later. Along the way, the men fended off disease, hunger, and Indian attacks, surviving for days on corn and leather. The attack itself was historic shock and awe: Rogers’ Rangers surprised the gathered French and Indian forces at night, slipping in and killing a sufficient number to demoralize French forces across North America. Their example was productive again years later, as American forces slipped and slid around British redcoats in the New England woods (although George Washington refused to hire Rogers as a consultant to the new American army).

Today, Robert Rogers is the subject of the new book by John Ross, War on The Run, available from Bantam and in bookstores now.

Spriggs, Sans Spriggs

80-lawyer firm Spriggs & Hollingsworth, of Washington, D.C., will become Hollingsworth LLP this month when Bill Spriggs, name partner and co-founder, jumps ship for Buchanan Ingersoll. Spriggs helped to launch the firm more than 27 years ago, with partners Joe Hollingsworth and Don Fowler. Hollingsworth LLP will continue the firm’s traditional work: defending pharmaceutical companies and litigating complex banking matters.

In addition to his managerial duties as senior partner, Spriggs oversaw the firm’s government contracts practice; lawyers from that group with stay with the firm and continue to serve current clients.

Hollingsworth LLP's Don Fowler.