Top Pelosi Aide, and Rep. Harman, Learned Of Waterboarding in 2003 (WaPo)

[jefferson_dem]

Top Pelosi Aide Learned Of Waterboarding in 2003

By Paul Kane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, May 9, 2009

A top aide to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended a CIA briefing in early 2003 in which it was made clear that waterboarding and other harsh techniques were being used in the interrogation of an alleged al-Qaeda operative, according to documents the CIA released to Congress on Thursday.

Pelosi has insisted that she was not directly briefed by Bush administration officials that the practice was being actively employed. But Michael Sheehy, a top Pelosi aide, was present for a classified briefing that included Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), then the ranking minority member of the House intelligence committee, at which agency officials discussed the use of waterboarding on terrorism suspect Abu Zubaida.

A Democratic source acknowledged yesterday that it is almost certain that Pelosi would have learned about the use of waterboarding from Sheehy. Pelosi herself acknowledged in a December 2007 statement that she was aware that Harman had learned of the waterboarding and had objected in a letter to the CIA's top counsel.

"It was my understanding at that time that Congresswoman Harman filed a letter in early 2003 to the CIA to protest the use of such techniques, a protest with which I concurred," Pelosi said in the Dec. 9, 2007, statement.

Precisely what Pelosi learned in classified intelligence briefings she received on interrogations has become a flash point in the battle over the effectiveness and legality of the methods used to extract information from alleged al-Qaeda operatives in the first years after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Republicans have accused Pelosi and other Democrats who attended the earliest classified briefings of knowing what CIA operatives were doing and offering their support for the methods, including waterboarding. They argue that Pelosi, who served as the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee until January 2003, objected only after the use of the techniques became public several years later.

<SNIP>

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/08/AR2009050803967_pf.html

[ProSense]

1. "Pelosi...acknowledged in a December 2007 statement....Pelosi said in the Dec. 9, 2007, statement."

Rehash!

It's 2009 and Cheney just admitted to waterboarding. It's time to prosecute Bush officials for war crimes.

[BunkerHill24]

2. It's time to prosecute everyone...including our own

[vaberella]

3. And whom are you refering too? Pelosi? n/t

[Supersedeas]

4. Interesting that the Media is so MYOPICALLY focused on Pelosi and Harman: strategery by CIA/Media

[malletgirl02]

6. Good Observation

I find that interesting also.

[Mass]

8. True.

[cwcwmack]

5. pelosi's old...

maybe she forgot?

[Hippo_Tron]

7. This doesn't exactly make Pelosi or Harman complicit

When they receive these classified intelligence briefings they are bound by law not to share any of the information. I suppose they could've brought the matter to the justice department. But then again this was the same justice department that was advising these tactics are legal. They really didn't have any options.

[Clear Blue Sky]

9. And yet Pelosi hasn't yet proposed legislation making waterboarding illegal.