This is what waterboarding looks like

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CIA documents spark row over what U.S. politicians knew about waterboarding

Pelosi under fire over torture briefings

WASHINGTON, May 13, 2009 -- US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a key ally of President Barack Obama, has come under fire over whether she has long known about harsh interrogation tactics used in George W. Bush's "war on terror."

"She was briefed on it and if she felt it was wrong she should have acted," Senator John McCain, the losing 2008 Republican presidential nominee, told reporters Tuesday.

Most of the criticism has focused on why, if briefed, Pelosi did not do more to stop the use of waterboarding, or simulated drowning, a technique that amounts to torture.

"I was briefed on it, and I vehemently objected to it. We did the Detainee Treatment Act, which prohibited cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. So we felt, I certainly felt, I could act on it," said McCain.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell recalled that in the early stages of the "war on terror" launched in the wake of the September 11 attacks, "everybody participated and significant people who count were briefed." If an inquiry takes place, he added, "everybody who was involved in it, both on the administration side and the congressional side, will certainly be subject to inquiry."

The comments by the senior Republicans came after the Politico news website cited a source close to Pelosi as saying that the speaker had learned in early 2003 that the Bush administration was waterboarding detainees. According to the source, she did not protest to the CIA out of respect for "appropriate" legislative channels.

Last week, reports emerged that CIA officials had briefed Pelosi aide Michael Sheehy and Democratic Representative Jane Harman in February 2003 about interrogation techniques, including waterboarding. The CIA also reportedly briefed members of Congress 40 times on the controversial interrogation techniques.

"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," Pelosi insisted last week. But at that briefing, she said, although internal memos about the interrogation techniques were mentioned, CIA officials said the methods had not been used. In December 2007, Pelosi had indicated that she was informed in 2002 about interrogation techniques the Bush administration was considering for future use.

The controversy was revived last month when Obama's administration released internal memos from 2002 and 2005 in which Bush-era legal officials argued that tactics including simulated drowning, facial slapping, sleep deprivation and using insects to scare prisoners were not torture.

Republican Representative Pete Hoekstra wrote to top Obama administration officials on Monday to request the release of documents showing which lawmakers were informed about the interrogation program, as well as the circumstances surrounding the briefings.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein, a Democrat, backed Pelosi. "I think it's a tempest in a teapot really to say: Well, Speaker Pelosi should have known all of this, she should have stopped this, she should have done this or done that," she said.

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U.S. House speaker says Bush administration misled her on waterboarding

May 14, 2009 -- Under strong attack from Republicans, the leader of the U.S. House of Representatives, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, accused the CIA and Bush administration of misleading her about waterboarding detainees and sharply rebutted claims she was complicit in its use. "To the contrary ... we were told explicitly that waterboarding was not being used," she said, referring to a formal CIA briefing she received in late 2002.

Pelosi, the House's top Democrat, said she subsequently learned that other legislators were told several months later by the Central Intelligence Agency about the use of waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning. "I wasn't briefed, I was informed that somebody else had been briefed about it," she said.

Pelosi made her comments today at a news conference where she was peppered with questions about her knowledge of a technique she and others have called torture. Republicans have insisted in recent weeks that she and other Democrats knew waterboarding was in use but made no attempt to protest.

Pelosi renewed her call for a so-called truth commission to probe the events in the Bush administration that led to the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques. While President Barack Obama has banned waterboarding, calling it torture, he has been notably cool toward an independent investigation that might distract attention from his domestic agenda.

The head Democrat in the Senate, Harry Reid, also has expressed opposition, as have congressional Republicans.

Pelosi was particularly harsh in describing the CIA. "They mislead us all the time," she said. And when a reporter asked whether the agency lied, she did not disagree.

She also suggested that the current Republican attacks marked an attempt to divert attention from the Bush administration's actions. "They misrepresented every step of the way, and they don't want that focus on them, so they try to turn the focus on us," she said.

Pelosi contended that Democrats did what they could to stop the use of waterboarding. The senior Democrat on the intelligence committee, who received the 2003 briefing on the practice, sent the CIA a formal letter of protest, she said.

But Pelosi defended her own lack of action on the issue, saying her focus at the time was on wresting control from Republicans so her party could change course. "No letter could change the policy. It was clear we had to change the leadership in Congress and in the White House. That was my job the Congress part," Pelosi said.

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CIA director defends against U.S. House speaker's charge

May 15, 2009 -- The head of the CIA defended the agency today against U.S. House speaker Nancy Pelosi's charge that she was misled in 2002 about the use of waterboarding but said it ultimately is up to Congress to decide where the truth lies.

"Let me be clear. It is not our policy or practice to mislead Congress," CIA director Leon Panetta wrote in a message to agency employees that was released to the public. "That is against our laws and our values."

Referring to Pelosi's remarks, he said, "The political debate over interrogation reached a new decibel level yesterday." Panetta's rebuttal was far more muted that a counterattack the Republicans unleashed against Pelosi.

"I think her accusations against our terror-fighters are irresponsible and, according to the CIA's record, Speaker Pelosi was briefed on what had been done," said Senator Kit Bond, the senior Republican on the Senate intelligence committee. "It's outrageous that a member of Congress would call our terror-fighters liars."

Pelosi drew the criticism a day after opening her weekly news conference with a prepared statement accusing agency briefers of misleading her in 2002 in connection with the use of waterboarding, an interrogation technique that simulates drowning.

In the statement, she repeated that she was not told that waterboarding had been used, even though it had been, and said an aide informed her of its use after other lawmakers had been briefed in 2003.

Pelosi has been the target of a campaign orchestrated in recent days by the House Republican leadership, which is eager to undercut her statements as well as stick Democrats with partial responsibility for the use of waterboarding in the Bush administration.

Some Democrats have expressed surprise that she chose to inject herself more deeply into the controversy, especially at a time when President Barack Obama enjoys widespread public support and Republicans are suffering extremely low approval ratings.

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Pelosi mute on accusation against CIA

May 22, 2009 -- Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the US House of Representatives, said today she will say nothing further about her allegation that the CIA lied in 2002 about its use of waterboarding on terror suspects. "I have made the statement that I'm going to make on this," she told reporters at a news conference. "I don't have anything more to say about it. I stand by my comment."

Republicans, however, are not staying quiet about the issue. Ken Spain, spokesman for the national Republican congressional committee, issued a statement after the news conference that called Pelosi a political liability to the Democratic party. "Her obsession with the previous administration and her disdain for America's intelligence officials has reduced her to cheerleader status within the far left wing of her party and a distraction to the substantive debate over how to best move our economy forward," Spain said.

Pelosi told reporters this month that she had not been told that waterboarding had been used against terror suspects, even though it had been. When asked whether she was accusing the CIA of lying to her, she said "yes". Pelosi has asked the CIA to declassify information that supports her claims. The CIA sent politicians a record of its notes and memos on 40 congressional briefings about interrogation techniques. The document has been found to include several errors, leaving in question exactly what Pelosi was told.

The Republicans, the minority party in both the House and the Senate, have seized on her accusation that the CIA misled Congress, contending that the California Democrat's remarks have demoralised the intelligence community. House Republicans yesterday demanded that a bipartisan panel investigate her allegations. "To have this charge out there and not have it resolved I think is damaging to our intelligence efforts and certainly will have a chilling effect on our intelligence professionals around the world," House Republican leader John Boehner said. Democrats beat back the proposal, calling it a political ploy. Republicans Ron Paul of Texas and Walter Jones of North Carolina joined Democrats in a 252-172 vote to block the resolution.

Upon leaving the news conference today, Pelosi would not answer a questioner asking whether she had called Leon Panetta, the CIA director, to discuss the matter. Instead, Pelosi had stuck faithfully to her script, saying that Democrats were making progress on other issues. "We're going forward in a bipartisan way for jobs, healthcare, energy for our country," she said. Regarding the CIA's briefing of Congress on waterboarding, "I won't have anything more to say about it."