Pelosi claims she was lied to about waterboarding
By Mike Soraghan and Jared Allen
Posted: 05/14/09 11:23 AM [ET]
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) Thursday said the CIA lied to her about waterboarding and compared it to the Bush administration handling of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
She said that in a September 2002 briefing she was specifically told waterboarding was not being used on detainees. Wasterboarding of a terrorism suspect had begun in August.
They say she received briefings from intelligence officials in September 2002 on techniques used against terrorism suspects like Abu Zubaydah, who was waterboarded. CIA documents released at the request of congressional Republicans show that one of her aides was briefed specifically on waterboarding in February 2003.
Pelosi maintains that she was never told detainees were being waterboarded, even though the practice began in August 2002. She has said she concurred in a protest after the 2003 briefing, but the practice continued for at least a month afterward.
Democrats also stress that they passed legislation in the House banning torture shortly after they took control of Congress in 2007.
Republicans turned up the heat Wednesday when Sen. Lindsey Graham (R- S.C.) threatened to try to call Pelosi as a witness in the Senate investigation of the interrogation program.
Lindsey Graham is a nasty little poofter, but if there is blood in the water, go Lindsey go!