Democrats Knew About Waterboarding in 2002 and didn't object

In today's Herald-Tribune we learn that a group of lawmakers including U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-CA was briefed on CIA interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, in 2002.

" In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA's overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

Among the techniques described, said two officials present, was waterboarding, a practice that years later would be condemned as torture by Democrats and some Republicans on Capitol Hill. But on that day, no objections were raised. Instead, at least two lawmakers in the room asked the CIA to push harder, two U.S. officials said."

"The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough," said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange."

Bottom line: key lawmakers were completely briefed on the CIA interrogation program including Speaker Pelosi, Jane Harmon, D-CA, John D. Rockefeller IV, D-WV and our own former Senator Bob Graham in 2002 which included waterboarding. Three Al Qaida members were interrogated using waterboarding. This technique was stopped in 2005 and has not been used since.

What is interesting is that also in today's Herald-Tribune is an article about the Democrats demanding an investigation into the destruction of two tapes of these interrogations by a CIA career spy named Jose Rodriguez, who admitted he did it without permission of the CIA Director or legal division.

"Today, the New York Times informs us that White House officials, Justice Department officials, and members of Congress “advised” the CIA in 2003 against destroying tapes of the interrogations of the two terrorists mentioned above. Moreover, according to the Times, when Rodriguez eventually had the tapes destroyed, he did so without consulting either the CIA's lawyer or its director, Porter Goss. Both are said to have become angry when they learned of the action," according to PowerLineBlog.

So now the Democrats want to punish the entire CIA about destroyed tapes showing interrogations with techniques they were fully aware of and supported. Great use of Congress's time.

To see the full Washington Post article go to this link:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/08/AR2007120801664_pf.html