Waterboarding: What Did House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Know and When Did She Know It?

Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed on waterboarding or an enhanced interrogation technique in 2002.

Nancy Pelosi denies knowing U.S. officials used waterboarding — but GOP operatives are pointing to a 2007 Washington Post story which describes an hour-ong 2002 briefing in which Pelosi was told about enhanced interrogation techniques in graphic detail.

Two unnamed officials told the paper that Pelosi, then a member of the Democratic minority, didn’t raise substantial objections.

Joby Warrick and Dan Eggen wrote:

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.

But, Speaker Pelosi today denied that she knew anything about waterboarding.

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

“In that or any other briefing…we were not, and I repeat, we’re not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation techniques were used. What they did tell us is that they had some legislative counsel … opinions that they could be used,” she told reporters today.

Earlier, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) criticized Pelosi and other Democratic leaders for backing probes into the use of waterboarding — after failing to raise objections during briefings on its potential use.

“Well, yesterday I saw a partial list of the number of members of the House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans, who were briefed on these interrogation methods and not a word was raised at the time, not one word,” Boehner told reporters at his weekly news availability.

“And I think you’re going to hear more and more about the bigger picture here, that what — the war on terror after 9/11 was done in a bipartisan basis on lots of fronts. And that bigger story will be coming out,” he added.

So, California Democrat Representative Nancy Pelosi WAS present in “classified” briefings regarding waterbboarding and enhanced interrogation techniques and did NOT raise any objection.

Why?

Because she was not able to discuss the classified material with her staff? Or, she was “hamstrung” by confidentiality requirements?

Oh please!

This sounds like a pretty lame excuse. She acquiesced in the use of enhanced interrogation techniques because she as were others scared of another attack on the United States. Pelosi looked the other way lest she be blamed for another homeland attack.

Who is she trying to fool?