Author Topic: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations  (Read 3857 times)

Dos Equis

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If this is true I wonder if Obama will be investing legislators too.   ::)

Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
Members of Congress were briefed on the subject of interrogation techniques more than 30 times since 2002, FOX News has learned. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was at the first meeting, and she raised no objections. 

FOXNews.com

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Republicans, hoping to turn the tables on Democrats who are open to prosecuting Bush-era lawyers for justifying "enhanced" interrogation techniques, are seeking to reveal the names of those lawmakers who were briefed on the tactics as much as seven years ago.

FOX News has learned there were more than 30 meetings and briefings with members of Congress on the subject since 2002.

The first such briefing dealt with the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, the Al Qaeda operations chief who ran the training camps in Afghanistan where the Sept. 11 hijackers were trained. Sources said California Rep. Nancy Pelosi, now the speaker of the House, attended the meeting with then-Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla. (who later became CIA director), and she did not raise any objections.

The briefings were given to the chairmen and ranking members of the intelligence committees in the House and Senate until 2006. That could cover Sen. John Rockefeller, W.Va., and Rep. Jane Harman, Calif., both Democrats, as well as Sen. Pat Roberts, Kan., Sen. Lindsey Graham, S.C., Sen. Richard Shelby, Ala., and Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Mich., all Republicans.

Defenders of the interrogation program note that if Congress had wanted to kill the program, all it had to do was withhold funding, which didn't happen.

Hoekstra, the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, has personally requested from Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair an unclassified list of names of all members of Congress who attended those briefings, complete with dates and locations.

He told FOXNews.com the list will probably show many members were briefed "early and often."

"The purpose of this, of course, is to underscore the fact that people in Congress knew or were aware of the program, its details, and they approved of this program and authorized its funding," said Jamal Ware, spokesman for Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee.

Republicans have criticized President Obama for opening the door prosecuting Justice Department lawyers who drafted the so-called "torture memos," which authorized harsh interrogation methods, including waterboarding. But they've also raised the point that if Democrats pursue charges against the lawyers, they'd be shielding others involved in the interrogation program.

"They can't blame the politicians in Congress who approved these tactics in 2002 because these are their friends," Rep. Lamar Smith, ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said in an e-mail. "So they're placing the blame on Bush administration officials, political appointees."

Attorney General Eric Holder said Wednesday that he would follow the law with regard to the interrogation program.

A number of Democrats have defended the call for probes.

"One way or another there needs to be a careful review and a public accounting of these troublesome policies," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said in a statement Wednesday, adding that an ongoing Senate Intelligence Committee probe should yield a lot of the answers Americans are looking for. "And I think issues of prosecution are principally the responsibility of the Justice Department to evaluate."

Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., has been pushing for an independent, bipartisan commission to investigate.

"I'm not one who feels we should turn the page if you haven't read the page," Leahy said.

But while some aides back the idea of an independent, 9/11 Commission-style body to investigate, FOX News has learned that Obama opposes the idea.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/23/republicans-claim-lawmakers-loop-interrogations/

Soul Crusher

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #1 on: April 23, 2009, 11:51:52 AM »
What a disgrace.

These dreamers wont be happy until we lose another 3000 citizens, or worse.

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #2 on: April 23, 2009, 02:34:27 PM »

Colossus_500

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #3 on: April 23, 2009, 10:22:40 PM »

LOL!!!!! The cricket sounds are only going to get LOUDER as the story unfolds.  This is an extremely jacked up congress, bro. 

The Coach

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #4 on: April 23, 2009, 10:25:58 PM »
I posted a reference to this earlier in another thread. I got the same response.....crickets.

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #5 on: April 24, 2009, 12:42:29 PM »
LOL!!!!! The cricket sounds are only going to get LOUDER as the story unfolds.  This is an extremely jacked up congress, bro. 

Yep.  Sure is.   :-\

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #6 on: April 24, 2009, 12:43:00 PM »
I posted a reference to this earlier in another thread. I got the same response.....crickets.

The silence is deafening. 

headhuntersix

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #7 on: April 24, 2009, 01:37:21 PM »
They're scrambling to make sure their lib douchbag talking points are in line with whatever scumbag defense Pelsoi comes up with.
L

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #8 on: April 24, 2009, 01:59:42 PM »
Where is the proof?

IF there is proof, then they certainly should suffer the same consequences and be under the same scrutiny.

headhuntersix

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #9 on: April 24, 2009, 02:03:27 PM »
What proof..they got briefed in 2002. They have records....
L

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #10 on: May 05, 2009, 04:59:06 PM »
What a surprise.   ::)

Source: No charges likely over interrogation memos 
Posted 5/5/2009 7:41 PM ET

By Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON — Bush administration lawyers who approved harsh interrogation techniques of terror suspects should not face criminal charges, Justice Department investigators say in a draft report that recommends two of the three attorneys face possible professional sanctions.

The recommendations come after an Obama administration decision last month not to prosecute CIA interrogators who followed advice outlined in the memos.

That decision angered conservatives who accused President Barack Obama of selling out the CIA, and from liberals who thought he was being too forgiving of practices they -- and Obama -- call torture. The president's rhetoric, if not actual policy, shifted on the matter as the political fallout intensified.

Officials conducting the internal Justice Department inquiry into the lawyers who wrote those memos have recommended referring two of the three lawyers -- John Yoo and Jay Bybee -- to state bar associations for possible disciplinary action, according to a person familiar with the inquiry. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was not authorized to discuss the inquiry.

The person noted that the investigative report was still in draft form and subject to revisions. Attorney General Eric Holder also may make his own determination about what steps to take once the report has been finalized.

The inquiry has become a politically loaded guessing game, with some advocating criminal charges against the lawyers and others urging that the matter be dropped.

In a letter to two senators, the Justice Department said a key deadline in the inquiry expired Monday, signaling that most of the work on the matter was completed. The letter does not mention the possibility of criminal charges, nor does it name the lawyers under scrutiny.

The letter did not indicate what the findings of the final report would be. Bybee, Yoo and Steven Bradbury worked in the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel and played key roles in crafting the legal justification for techniques critics call torture.

The memos were written as the Bush administration grappled with the fear and uncertainty following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Over the years that followed, lawyers re-examined and rewrote much of the legal advice.

Last month, the Obama administration released four of the long-secret memos about treatment of terror suspects in which lawyers authorized methods including waterboarding, throwing subjects against a wall and forced nudity.

In releasing the documents, President Barack Obama declared CIA interrogators who followed the memos would not be prosecuted. Obama left it to Holder to decide whether those who authorized or approved the methods should face charges.

When that inquiry neared completion last year, investigators recommended seeking professional sanctions against Bybee and Yoo, but not Bradbury, according to the person familiar with the matter. Those would come in the form of recommendations to state bar associations, where the most severe possible punishment is disbarment.

Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, called the decision not to seek criminal charges "inconceivable, given all that we know about the twisted logic of these memos."

Warren argued the only reason for such a decision "is to provide political cover for people inside the Obama White House so they don't have to pursue what needs to be done."

Bybee is now a judge on the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Yoo is a professor at the University of California-Berkeley. Bradbury returned to private practice when he left the government at the end of President George W. Bush's term in the White House.

Asked for comment, Yoo's lawyer, Miguel Estrada, said he signed an agreement with the Justice Department not to discuss the draft report. Lawyer Maureen Mahoney, who is representing Bybee, also declined to comment.

"The former employees have until May 4, 2009 to provide their comments on the draft report," states the letter from Assistant Attorney General Ronald Weich to Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., and Dick Durbin, D-Ill.

Whitehouse has scheduled a hearing on the issue next week.

Now that the deadline has passed, there is little more for officials to do but make revisions to it based on the responses they've received, and decide how much, if any, of the findings should be made public.

Both Whitehouse and Durbin have pressed the Justice Department for more information about the progress of the investigation by the Office of Professional Responsibility.

The office examines possible ethics violations by Justice Department employees. On rare occasions, those inquiries become full-blown criminal investigations.

The language of the letter, dated Monday, indicates the inquiry will result in a final report.

The letter notes that Holder and his top deputy will have access to any information they need "to evaluate the final report and make determinations about appropriate next steps."

The results of the investigation were delayed late last year, when then-Attorney General Michael Mukasey and his deputy asked investigators to allow the lawyers a chance to respond to their findings, as is typically done for those who still work for the Justice Department.

Investigators also shared a draft copy with the CIA to review whether the findings contained any classified information. According to the letter, the CIA then requested to comment on the report.

http://content.usatoday.net/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=honoluluadvertiser&sParam=30688343.story

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #11 on: May 06, 2009, 12:03:20 PM »
He needs to start with the Democrats who knew about the interrogations. 

Dodd Calls for Prosecuting Bush Officials

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 12:51 PM

By: Jim Meyers 

Sen. Christopher Dodd is pushing ahead with a call for prosecuting Bush administration officials over the use of waterboarding terrorist detainees.

The Connecticut Democrat told home-state bloggers over the weekend that the Obama administration's release of memos detailing interrogation techniques used on detainees creates a "moral imperative" for a congressional investigation — or a criminal probe that could involve former Vice President Dick Cheney's staff, Politico.com reported.

When asked if a probe should go "as high as Cheney's office," Dodd replied: "You gotta go where you gotta go."

Dodd cited his father's experience as a prosecutor at the Nuremberg war crimes trials. Attorney Thomas Joseph Dodd, who was later elected to the Senate, held a leading position on the Allied prosecution team in 1945 and 1946.

Referring to the Nazi defendants, Dodd said "even these thugs got a lawyer; even these thugs got a trial."

He added: "In a sense, not to prosecute people or pursue them when these acts have occurred is . . . to invite it again in some future administration."

The New York Times reported on Tuesday that an internal Justice Department inquiry had found that Bush administration lawyers who authorized harsh interrogations committed no crimes warranting prosecution.
 
http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/dodd_prosecution_bush/2009/05/06/211378.html

tonymctones

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #12 on: May 06, 2009, 12:12:26 PM »
there wont be any prosecutions now that they have found that some dems signed off on it or knew about it as well that would mean that it wasnt just the big bad evil republicans that did it all.

headhuntersix

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #13 on: May 06, 2009, 12:15:43 PM »
This has died a death...funny that.
L

Mons Venus

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #14 on: May 06, 2009, 12:17:47 PM »
This has died a death...funny that.

Ever Kill anyone HH6? That's what you're paid for.......TO KILL. (With my tax dollars)

headhuntersix

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #15 on: May 06, 2009, 12:29:17 PM »
I pay taxes as well....so I guess I paid myself to have the "most fun u can have with ur cloths on..." My guess is this has never happened to u....
L

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #16 on: May 06, 2009, 10:09:44 PM »
The silence is deafening. 

OK and what if they were briefed?  What can they do? NOTHING... its TOP SECRETE, even if it is ILLEGAL, who can they talk to about it?  If they repeat one thing, even to a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, they violate their oath... SO what can any of them really do? wouldnt expect a dem or a rep to say anything from the meetings...  Peloci actually talked about this 6 months ago that she was briefed about certian things and she couldnt say shit...

tonymctones

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #17 on: May 06, 2009, 10:14:46 PM »
OK and what if they were briefed?  What can they do? NOTHING... its TOP SECRETE, even if it is ILLEGAL, who can they talk to about it?  If they repeat one thing, even to a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, they violate their oath... SO what can any of them really do? wouldnt expect a dem or a rep to say anything from the meetings...  Peloci actually talked about this 6 months ago that she was briefed about certian things and she couldnt say shit...
she could have said something in the meetings about it she didnt seem to concerned then why now?

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #18 on: May 07, 2009, 12:02:31 PM »
OK and what if they were briefed?  What can they do? NOTHING... its TOP SECRETE, even if it is ILLEGAL, who can they talk to about it?  If they repeat one thing, even to a SUPREME COURT JUSTICE, they violate their oath... SO what can any of them really do? wouldnt expect a dem or a rep to say anything from the meetings...  Peloci actually talked about this 6 months ago that she was briefed about certian things and she couldnt say shit...

You really believe that?  You believe that if a lawmaker is told that people are engaging in illegal activity that the lawmaker can do nothing?  Where are you getting that from?  What oath prevents them from stopping illegal activity?   

tonymctones

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #19 on: May 07, 2009, 05:12:23 PM »
You really believe that?  You believe that if a lawmaker is told that people are engaging in illegal activity that the lawmaker can do nothing?  Where are you getting that from?  What oath prevents them from stopping illegal activity?   
or even speaking out against it in the meeting itself, again she didnt say anything about it then, why now is she upset and suprised about it?

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #20 on: May 07, 2009, 05:22:10 PM »
or even speaking out against it in the meeting itself, again she didnt say anything about it then, why now is she upset and suprised about it?

Yeah.  I don't buy they "their hands were tied" argument.  If they truly believed it was illegal they would have done something. 

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #21 on: May 08, 2009, 03:10:46 PM »
Pelosi: I Was Told Interrogation Methods Were Lawful
The House speaker's statement came after CIA records showed Pelosi was briefed in September 2002 on the interrogation methods and appeared to contradict her claim last month that she was never told that waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation techniques were being used.

FOXNews.com

Friday, May 08, 2009

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi insisted Friday that she was briefed only once about the "enhanced" interrogation techniques being used on terrorism suspects and that she was assured by lawyers with the CIA and the Department of Justice that the methods were legal.

Pelosi issued a statement after CIA records released this week showed that Pelosi was briefed in September 2002 on the interrogation methods. The briefings memo appeared to contradict the speaker's claims that she was never told that waterboarding or other enhanced interrogation methods were being used.

"We were not -- I repeat -- were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," Pelosi said on April 23.

The emphasis seems to be on "were used," even though she conceded in a statement released Friday that she was told they would be used.

"As I said in my statement of December 9, 2007: 'I was briefed on interrogation techniques the (Bush) administration was considering using in the future. The administration advised that legal counsel for both the CIA and the Department of Justice had concluded that the techniques were legal,'" she said.

But even that statement is at odds with the official record of the briefings recorded in the CIA memo dated to Sept. 4, 2002. That memo says Pelosi received a "briefing on EITs (enhanced interrogation techniques), including use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah, background on authorities and a description of particular EITs that had been employed."

Pelosi noted that the media had reported this week that CIA Director Leon Panetta wrote in a cover letter accompanying the briefings memo that "the descriptions provided by the CIA may not be accurate."

Pelosi is fighting back against accusations that she and other Democrats are being motivated by politics in their attempt to establish an independent commission to investigate officials and lawyers involved with the Bush-era interrogation programs.

Pelosi is just one of 65 lawmakers who received 40 briefings dealing with the subject. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., for instance, was repeatedly briefed, as was Rep. Jane Harman, D-Valif., who took over Pelosi's spot on the House Intelligence Committee.

In addition, from the beginning of the program in 2002 until it became public in the fall of 2006, the House held 13 votes to authorize intelligence funding at which time no one objected or demanded changes to any intelligence programs.

The briefings took place in the months after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. At the time, the CIA was getting actionable intelligence that helped disrupt several terrorist plots.

Lawmakers apparently didn't want to stop that. But when it became public, Pelosi and others shifted gears and started criticizing a program they had known about for years, claimed GOP strategist Brad Blakeman.

"Either the speaker has a veracity problem or an incompetence problem and it could be both," Blakeman told FOX News. "The fact of the matter is she was briefed and she was hoping that the top secret nature of these briefings would shield her from this information coming out."

Blakeman added that he trusts the notes made at the briefings more than Pelosi's memory.

Justice Department officials are not likely to recommend criminal charges against the three Bush administration lawyers who the wrote the memos approving the interrogation methods, but two could face disciplinary action from their state bar associations.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/08/pelosi-says-told-interrogation-methods-lawful/

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #22 on: May 11, 2009, 10:41:55 AM »
Gingrich: Pelosi not truthful about waterboarding issue
Posted: 07:19 PM ET

WASHINGTON (CNN) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has denied she was ever told explicitly that waterboarding had been used on terrorist suspects, "has a lot of explaining to do," former Speaker Newt Gingrich said Sunday.

Gingrich, who held the House post from 1995 to 1999, said Pelosi keeps changing her statements on how much she knew about the practice and when.

In the interest of national security, "she [Pelosi] has a responsibility to say nothing or tell the truth," he told "Fox News Sunday." "In this case, it's clear she wasn't telling the truth."

A CIA memo provided to CNN by Republican sources lists 40 briefings for members of Congress from September 2002 to March 2009.

The first briefing — on September 4, 2002 — was for then-House Intelligence Committee Chairman Porter Goss and Pelosi, then the ranking Democrat on the committee.

The subject of the briefing is listed as "EITs," or enhanced interrogation techniques, "including use of EITs on Abu Zubaydah," a suspected al Qaeda leader imprisoned at U.S. facilities in Guantanamo Bay.

One of those techniques is waterboarding, which simulates drowning and which has been described by critics as torture.

Initially, Pelosi said she had not been briefed on EITs, according to the memo provided to CNN by Republican sources.

However, a recently declassified Justice Department memo from 2005 says, "The CIA used the waterboard 'at least 83 times during August 2002′ in the interrogation of Zubaydah."

That was before the September 4 Pelosi-Goss briefing.

Pelosi released a statement in December 2007 that said, "I was briefed on interrogation techniques the administration was considering using in the future. The administration advised that legal counsel for both the CIA and the Department of Justice had concluded that the techniques were legal."

Last month, Pelosi told reporters she was told about the legal justification for the interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, but was never told the technique had been used on any detainees.

"We were not — I repeat — were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," she said Friday.

In a statement issued Friday, Pelosi said: "Of the 40 CIA briefings to Congress reported recently in the press, I was only briefed once, on September 4, 2002, as I have previously stated."

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/05/10/gingrich-pelosi-not-truthful-about-waterboarding-issue/#more-51110

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #23 on: May 12, 2009, 06:53:11 PM »
Uh oh . . . .

House Majority Leader: Congressional Hearings Should Explore Pelosi's Interrogation Briefing
Democrats will hold a series of hearings on Justice Department memos released last month that justified rough tactics against detainees, including waterboarding -- simulated drowning -- and sleep deprivation.

AP

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

The House majority leader reluctantly agreed Tuesday that congressional hearings should investigate Speaker Nancy Pelosi's assertion that she wasn't informed, more than six years ago, that harsh interrogation methods were used on an Al-Qaeda leader.

Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., called Republican challenges to Pelosi's assertion a diversion from the real question of whether the Bush administration tortured terrorist suspects. Nonetheless, he acknowledged the controversy should be resolved.

Democrats will hold a series of hearings on Justice Department memos released last month that justified rough tactics against detainees, including waterboarding -- simulated drowning -- and sleep deprivation.

While Democrats want the hearings to focus on what they call torture, Republicans have tried to turn the issue to their advantage by complaining that Pelosi and other Democrats knew of the tactics but didn't protest. Pelosi was briefed in 2002 while on the House Intelligence Committee.

Hoyer, asked at a news conference whether Democrats were inviting political problems for themselves by holding hearings, said, "I think the facts need to get out.

"I think the Republicans are simply trying to distract the American public with who knew what when. My response to that is, look, the issue is not what was said or what was known; the question and focus ought to be on what was done."

But he added that the controversy over "what was said and when it was said, who said it ... is probably what ought to be on the record as well."

Hoyer also was asked whether he believes Pelosi's support has been undermined among Democrats.

"No, I don't," he said.

A Senate Judiciary subcommittee holds the first hearing on the interrogation policy on Wednesday, but has scheduled testimony unrelated to the Pelosi matter.

A CIA document made public last week shows that Pelosi received a briefing in September 2002 on the tactics used on Abu Zubaydah, an Al Qaeda leader and one of three prisoners subjected to waterboarding. Pelosi said she was told the agency was discussing its legal right to use the tactic in the future.

"We were not -- I repeat -- were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," said Pelosi, D-Calif.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/12/house-majority-leader-congressional-hearings-explore-pelosis-interrogation/

Dos Equis

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Re: Republicans Claim Top Lawmakers Were in the Loop on Interrogations
« Reply #24 on: May 14, 2009, 11:24:49 AM »
 ::)

Pelosi accuses CIA of misleading her on use of waterboarding
     
(CNN) -- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused CIA officials Thursday of misleading her in 2002 about the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as waterboarding, which simulates drowning and has been described by critics as torture.

Pelosi reiterated an earlier claim that she was briefed on such techniques only once -- in September 2002 -- and that she was told at the time that the techniques were not being used.

A recently released Justice Department memo says that the CIA used waterboarding at least 83 times in August 2002 in the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, a suspected al Qaeda leader imprisoned at U.S. facilities in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Pelosi said that one month later, she was told only that the Justice Department had concluded that such techniques were legal, not that they were being used.

"That's the only mention, that they were not using it. And we now know that earlier, they were," Pelosi said at her weekly news conference.  Watch Pelosi explain what she was told »

Pelosi said the briefing she received from the CIA was incomplete and inaccurate, and she called on the CIA to release a full transcript of the briefing.

She said that in February 2003, a member of her staff told her that the Republican chairman and the new Democratic ranking member of the Intelligence Committee had been briefed on the use of enhanced interrogation techniques.

Pelosi said that after that briefing, the Democratic ranking member of the committee responded by sending a letter of protest, but "no letter could change [the Bush administration's] policy."

Last month, however, Pelosi told reporters that she was not told waterboarding or any other enhanced interrogation methods were being used. That was before reports came out claiming she was told by her aide about waterboarding in February.

Asked why she didn't mention that before, Pelosi said, "I told you what our briefing was."

"When my assistant told me that the committee had been briefed -- now, I'm not on that committee any more. I'm now out of it. We have a new -- that ranking member wrote the appropriate letter to protest that," she said.

"But the committees can look into and see the timing of who knew what and when and what the nature of the briefing was. I have not been briefed as to what they were briefed on in February. I was just briefed that they were informed that some of the enhanced situations were used," she said.

Shortly after Pelosi's remarks, House Minority Leader John Boehner said her comments "continue to raise more questions than provide answers."

"I've dealt with our intelligence professionals for the last 3½ years on an almost daily basis. And it's hard for me to imagine that anyone in our intelligence area would ever mislead a member of Congress," he said.

Asked about Pelosi's allegations that Republican policy was leading the country astray, Boehner said, "I think the problem is that the speaker has had way too many stories on this issue."

"When you look at the number of briefings that the speaker was in and other Democrat members of the House and Senate, it's -- it's pretty clear that they were well aware of what these enhanced interrogation techniques were, they were well aware that they had been used, and -- and it seems to me that they want to have it both ways. You can't have it both ways," he said.

Pelosi said Thursday that Republicans are jumping on the briefings because they want to cause a distraction.

She reiterated her call for the establishment of an independent "truth commission" to investigate the Bush administration's use of enhanced interrogation techniques.

She also suggested that the National Security Act of 1947 needs to be revised so that more members of Congress can be briefed on sensitive intelligence matters.

In 2007, Congress passed legislation banning torture and requiring interrogators to abide by the regulations of the Army Field Manual. Former President Bush vetoed the measure, but President Obama enacted similar restrictions shortly after taking office.


"Throughout my career, I am proud to have worked on human rights and against torture," Pelosi said.

"I unequivocally oppose the use of torture."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/pelosi.waterboarding/index.html