CIA Says Pelosi Was Briefed on Use of 'Enhanced Interrogatio

**Midnight Mike** · 05-08-2009, 12:25 PM

Intelligence officials released documents this evening saying that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was briefed in September 2002 about the use of harsh interrogation tactics against al-Qaeda prisoners, seemingly contradicting her repeated statements over the past 18 months that she was never told that these techniques were actually being used.

In a 10-page memo outlining an almost seven-year history of classified briefings, intelligence officials said that Pelosi and then-Rep. Porter Goss (R-Fla.) were the first two members of Congress ever briefed on the interrogation tactics. Then the ranking member and chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, respectively, Pelosi and Goss were briefed Sept. 4, 2002, one week before the first anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capito ... ed_on.html

**Matt Molnar** · 05-08-2009, 12:42 PM

In fairness, she might have been too dumb to understand what the CIA was telling her, or just wasn't paying attention to the guy when he was speaking.

Remember, 500 million Americans are losing their jobs every day.

**Idlewild** · 05-11-2009, 10:14 PM

Am I only Obama supporter who feels that Bush/Cheney actually did the right thing with the water-boarding? Do you think the Gang of Three were given ****-meat sandwiches as well?

**Matt Molnar** · 05-11-2009, 10:44 PM

Originally Posted by Idlewild

Am I only Obama supporter who feels that Bush/Cheney actually did the right thing with the water-boarding? Do you think the Gang of Three were given ****-meat sandwiches as well?

I voted for Obama, and I'm not sure that waterboarding was necessarily the right thing, but it doesn't deserve the fuss that is being made about it.

First of all, I think the word "torture" has a much more violent connotation, i.e. severe trauma that causes lasting injuries or disabilities, like you'd get if we put you on the rack, or burned you with a blow torch. Waterboarding is not pleasant, but it does not do any physical damage. I'm sure it scares the crap out of you, but when it's over you can do whatever you were doing before.

More importantly, news reports never seem to mention who we did it to, making it sound like we waterboarded every single Guantanamo inmate, hundreds and hundreds of prisoners.

How many people did we actually waterboard?

THREE!

And those three people were not picked arbitrarily: they were the worst of the worst of the worst.

**Midnight Mike** · 05-13-2009, 08:32 AM

This keeps getting better & better.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/12/ ... index.html

A source close to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi now confirms that Pelosi was told in February 2003 by her intelligence aide, Michael Sheehy, that waterboarding was actually used on CIA detainee Abu Zubaydah.

Source says Nancy Pelosi didn't object about waterboard usage because she wasn't personally briefed about it.

This appears to contradict Pelosi's account that she was never told waterboarding actually happened, only that the administration was considering using it.

Sheehy attended a briefing in which waterboarding was discussed in February 2003, with Rep. Jane Harman, D-California, who took over Pelosi's spot as the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee.

This source says Pelosi didn't object when she learned that waterboarding was being used because she had not been personally briefed about it -- only her aide had been told.

The source said Pelosi supported a letter that Harman sent to the administration at the time raising concerns. The source asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of matters discussed in classified intelligence briefings.

Pelosi admits attending one briefing in September 2002, but at a news conference last month, she was adamant that she did not know waterboarding was used.

**T-Bird76** · 05-14-2009, 08:32 PM

This is the beginning of the end for her, you don't accuse the CIA of lying and not have any proof whatsoever. I really hope this takes her down finally.

**Matt Molnar** · 05-14-2009, 10:22 PM

She should have just said "I forgot" like everyone else. I might actually believe her...while she looks good for her age, she's nearly 70, and not very bright to begin with.

**Midnight Mike** · 05-15-2009, 07:22 AM

That press conference was a train wreck & the more she spoke the worse it got. Accusing the CIA of lying & misleading Congress without other members of Congress backing you up is foolhardy.

If Nancy Pelosi wanted to accuse the CIA of lying to her & Congress she should have held a Congress with other members of Congress...