Top Legislators (Democrat & Republican) Knew Of Harsh Interrogations
Anonymous Bagel Vendor
The Washington Times
April 23, 2009
The CIA briefed top Democrats and Republicans on the congressional
intelligence committees on enhanced interrogation techniques more than
30 times, according to intelligence sources, who said those members
tacitly approved the techniques which some Democrats in Congress now
say should land Bush administration officials in prison.
Between 2002 and 2006, the top Republicans and Democrats on the House
and Senate intelligence committees "each got complete, benchmark
briefings on the program," said one of the intelligence sources who is
familiar with the briefings.
"If Congress wanted to kill this program, all it had to do was
withhold funding," said the source, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the closed-door
briefings.
Those who were briefed included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and Rep. Jane Harman of
California, all Democrats, and Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Sen.
Richard C. Shelby of Alabama and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, all
Republicans.
The Democratic and Republican staff directors for both committees also
were briefed, according to the intelligence source and to a
declassified memo released Wednesday that detailed some of the Senate
committee briefings.
President Obama last week released a series of memos that were the
basis for the CIA's program and that laid out specific tactics, such
as sleep deprivation and waterboarding, and their release has pushed
the issue of blame to the forefront of the political discussion.
Some Democrats and liberal pressure groups have called for Bush
administration officials who wrote the rules allowing enhanced
techniques to be prosecuted, saying the tactics amounted to torture.
Mr. Obama and Mrs. Pelosi have both left the door open for such
prosecutions.
Seeking the facts about congressional approval, Mr. Hoekstra, the
ranking member of the House committee, sent a letter Monday asking
National Intelligence Director Dennis C. Blair, a retired admiral, to
provide an unclassified list of the dates, locations and names of all
members of Congress who were briefed on the techniques.
"I believe their response was probably, 'Well, that's OK,' or
otherwise they wouldn't have signed off on it," Mr. Hoekstra said when
asked about other members who received briefings.
Members of Congress who were briefed have offered different
recollections for what they were briefed on and what their
responsibilities were for addressing the information.
Mrs. Pelosi has said she was briefed on waterboarding techniques only
once, when she was ranking member of the House committee, and said
that in that briefing CIA officials said they thought the tactic was
legal and that the agency was considering using it.
"They come in to us and represent certain things. We can't talk to
other people about it. We don't know whether it is true or false. We
just know that it is a fact that that is what they have told us in
these closed hearings and people hear different things in the same
room, depending on their own experience," Mrs. Pelosi told reporters
Wednesday.
Spokesmen for Mrs. Harman and Mr. Rockefeller didn't return calls
seeking comment, but in a statement accompanying the declassified memo
detailing Senate committee briefings Mr. Rockefeller said they weren't
always told the truth.
"In the wake of 9/11 we all wanted to leave no stone unturned in our
pursuit of terrorists to prevent future attacks. At that time and
since, the Senate intelligence committee sought to work in partnership
with the administration to keep America safe," he said. "But we now
know that essential information was withheld from the Congress on many
matters and decisions were made in secret by senior Bush
administration officials to obscure the complete picture."
Also briefed on the tactics were former Rep. Porter J. Goss, a
Republican, and former Sen. Bob Graham, a Democrat, who were both
chairmen of their respective intelligence committees.
Mr. Graham told the Huffington Post on Wednesday that prosecutions
"should not be taken off the table."
Mr. Blair, in a memo last week to his staff, also said Congress had
been notified of the tactics: "From 2002 to 2006 when the use of these
techniques ended, the leadership of the CIA repeatedly reported their
activities both to Executive Branch policymakers and to members of
Congress, and received permission to continue to use the techniques."
That line, in an April 16 memo to the intelligence community, was
later deleted from a statement released to the public by the Obama
administration.
The briefings to Congress were opened to the full intelligence
committees after September 2006, when President Bush publicly
acknowledged the program. But at least one of the Democrats privy to
early briefings by the CIA has expressed an openness to prosecution of
former Bush administration officials for their roles in approving the
techniques.
Some in Congress have called for appointing a "truth commission" to
examine the interrogation program and other Bush administration
activities. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy,
Vermont Democrat, has called for a bipartisan panel to look into the
matter, as has his House counterpart, Chairman John Conyers Jr.,
Michigan Democrat.
Mr. Obama said this week he prefers to avoid retribution and that if
Congress does appoint a commission it must avoid charges of
politicization. The president also said any decision on prosecutions
will be made by the attorney general.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and chairman of the Senate
intelligence panel since January, earlier this week sent Mr. Obama a
letter urging him to be open to prosecution of former Justice
officials who wrote the memos. Her committee is conducting an
investigation into the interrogation techniques.
A congressional aide, defending Mrs. Feinstein, said the senator was
not briefed on the techniques until 2006 and she soon after took
action to oppose them by drafting a bill to curb the tactics the CIA
was allowed to use.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, testifying before the House
Foreign Affairs Committee Wednesday, refused to answer questions from
Republicans about her advice to Mr. Obama on the publication of the
interrogation memos.
"I'm not going to share that with you," she told Rep. Dana
Rohrabacher, California Republican.
Asked by Mr. Rohrabacher about former Vice President Dick Cheney's
claim that the harsh interrogations had produced valuable
intelligence, Mrs. Clinton said, "It won't surprise you that I don't
consider [Mr. Cheney] a particularly reliable source."
Separately, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican and the 2008
Republican presidential nominee, and two other senators sent a letter
Wednesday to Mr. Obama criticizing some of the interrogation
techniques but urging Mr. Obama not to prosecute the former Justice
Department officials who approved them.
"Moving in such a direction would have a deeply chilling effect on the
ability of lawyers in any administration to provide their client - the
U.S. government - with their best legal advice," said the letter, also
signed by Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, and Sen. Joe
Lieberman, Connecticut independent.
Joe
> Kara Rowland
> The Washington Times
> April 23, 2009
>
> The CIA briefed top Democrats and Republicans on the congressional
> intelligence committees on enhanced interrogation techniques more than
> 30 times, according to intelligence sources, who said those members
> tacitly approved the techniques which some Democrats in Congress now
> say should land Bush administration officials in prison.
Torture is wrong. America is better than that. Does "tacitly
approved" mean that they said yes to the torture or does it mean that
they were sworn to secrecy and kept their word and did not speak out?
Joe
> The Washington Times
> April 23, 2009
>
> The CIA briefed top Democrats and Republicans on the congressional
> intelligence committees on enhanced interrogation techniques more than
> 30 times, according to intelligence sources, who said those members
> tacitly approved the techniques which some Democrats in Congress now
> say should land Bush administration officials in prison.
Torture is wrong. America is better than that. Does "tacitly
Clay
...
> On Apr 23, 7:00 am, Anonymous Bagel Vendor <ba...@morning.com> wrote:
>
> > Kara Rowland
> > The Washington Times
> > April 23, 2009
>
> > The CIA briefed top Democrats and Republicans on the congressional
> > intelligence committees on enhanced interrogation techniques more than
> > 30 times, according to intelligence sources, who said those members
> > tacitly approved the techniques which some Democrats in Congress now
> > say should land Bush administration officials in prison.
>
> Torture is wrong. America is better than that.
Should Nancy Pelosi be tried for war crimes?
> Does "tacitly approved" mean that they said yes to the
> torture or does it mean that they were sworn to secrecy
> and kept their word and did not speak out?
Do you know how Congress works?
-C-
Joe
>
> Should Nancy Pelosi be tried for war crimes?
Why? She did not have the power to approve torture nor did she
torture anyone.
>
> > Does "tacitly approved" mean that they said yes to the
> > torture or does it mean that they were sworn to secrecy
> > and kept their word and did not speak out?
>
> Do you know how Congress works?
>
> -C-
Yes, more than you by the looks of it.
Clay
...
> > > Torture is wrong. America is better than that.
>
> > Should Nancy Pelosi be tried for war crimes?
>
> Why? She did not have the power to approve torture nor did she
> torture anyone.
----------------
John Travolta to Hugh Jackman in "Swordfish"...
"Learn !!!"
The "Gang of Eight" is a common colloquial term for a set of eight
leaders of the U.S. Congress. Specifically, the Gang of Eight includes
the leaders of each of the two parties from each of the two houses of
Congress and the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence
committees of each of the two houses of Congress.
The President of the United States is required by 50 U.S.C. § 413(a)
(1) to "ensure that the congressional intelligence committees are kept
fully and currently informed of the intelligence activities of the
United States." However, the President may elect to report instead to
the Gang of Eight when he feels "it is essential to limit access" to
information about a covert action.
Current Members of the Gang of Eight
Nancy Pelosi (D), Speaker of the United States House of
Representatives
John Boehner (R), House Minority Leader
Harry Reid (D), Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R), Senate Minority Leader
Silvestre Reyes (D), Chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on
Intelligence
Peter Hoekstra (R), Ranking Member of the House Permanent Select
Committee on Intelligence
Dianne Feinstein (D), Chair of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence
Kit Bond (R), Ranking Member of the Senate Select Committee on
Intelligence
> > > Does "tacitly approved" mean that they said yes to the
> > > torture or does it mean that they were sworn to secrecy
> > > and kept their word and did not speak out?
>
> > Do you know how Congress works?
>
> > -C-
>
> Yes, more than you by the looks of it.
Too fucking funny.
-C-
Joe
> > > Do you know how Congress works?
>
> > > -C-
>
> > Yes, more than you by the looks of it.
>
> Too fucking funny.
>
> -C-
The briefings are confidential and not made public. That's the point
I made.
Joe
Clay
...
> > > > Do you know how Congress works?
>
> > > > -C-
>
> > > Yes, more than you by the looks of it.
>
> > Too fucking funny.
>
> > -C-
>
> The briefings are confidential and not made public.
"The briefings" (your word) denote that Nancy Pelosi knew about the
harsh interrogations.
> That's the point I made.
Ditto.
-C-
Joe
> harsh interrogations.
>
> > That's the point I made.
>
> Ditto.
The words ""tacitly approved" was what I was originally referring to.
If Pelosi was briefed that does not mean she approved, tacitly
approved, or even thought it was a mildly good idea.
You asked, "Should Nancy Pelosi be tried for war crimes?" Why do
you ask?
>
> -C-
Clay
She knew.
Did you see her dance and dance during her news conference yesterday?
She's worried... and she has a good reason to be worried too.
HTH
-C-
Joe
> >you ask?
>
> She knew.
>
> Did you see her dance and dance during her news conference yesterday?
>
> She's worried... and she has a good reason to be worried too.
>
> HTH
>
> -C-
Her knowing and her being guilty of a war crime are two completely
different things.
"Pelosi says she was briefed by Bush administration officials on the
legal justification for using waterboarding — but that they never
followed through on promises to inform her when they actually began
using "enhanced" interrogation techniques:
"Pelosi says members who receive classified intelligence briefings are
powerless to act on them — or even discuss them with staff -- due to
confidentiality requirements.
As a consequence, some members simply skip classified briefings to
avoid being "hamstrung" by requirements they keep silent on the topics
discussed."
http://www.politico.com/blogs/glennthrush/0409/Pelosi_I_didnt_know_about_waterboarding.html