House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) attended secret CIA briefings on interrogation procedures that clearly laid out the details of waterboarding and other "harsh" CIA interrogation techniques in 2002.
Pelosi and other Democratic Party members on the committee had full knowledge of waterboarding technique and queried CIA as to whether waterboarding was harsh enough to extract information. The Speaker and other attending Democratic Party committee members voiced their approval, and encouraged the CIA to go forward with their program that included water boarding according to a
Washington Post article dated December 9, 2007. There are multiple accounts of Pelosi's involvement and approval of "harsh" waterboarding techniques used on terror suspects planning and fighting against the US civilian population.
Democratic members of Congress with direct knowledge of the matter who held oversight roles during the period include Pelosi, Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), and Rep John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.VA). None of the Democrats took any action against the CIA program while they were charged with its oversight while they were responsible for oversite. A growing number of Americans believe that if there is going to be an investigation, it should start with Nancy Pelosi among others, however the Democratic Party is only interested in investigating Republicans.
Some say Pelosi is laying low now, letting Obama and Clinton attack the CIA, former President Bush and the military for fear that she will become implicated due to her direct knowledge of CIA procedures prior to it being termed "torture" by leading Democrats and Barack Obama. Obama has flip flopped on his intentions and it is now unclear what his intentions are although he has left the door open to prosecuting the people who defended the US for using such techniques approved by Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats in 2002.
Before "waterboarding" became a partisan issue used by Democratic Party activists to punish the Bush Administration, key Democratic Party legislative overseers conducted 30 private briefings, many of which included detailed descriptions of the waterboarding technique and other "harsh" interrogation procedures.
Among the many Democrats who had direct knowledge, including detailed descriptions of the waterboarding technique, there was only one who questioned the procedure and that was not the Speaker. A growing number of Americans are viewing Obama's bid to prosecute Americans for obtaining the information that saved lives after the September 11, 2001 attack on New York City as a bitterly partisan investigation that makes America less safe. Top national security officials have warned Obama that he is endangering the country by opening up the classified workings of the CIA to international inspection that will no doubt delight the terrorists who are seeking to strike the U.S. as they did in 2001.
As Democrats continue to look backwards at the waterboarding issue, many agree that partisan party leaders are using the issue to destroy American patriots who saved many American lives as well as Europeans and other Western civilians. If this "gotcha" mentality that is fast becoming the trademark of Democrats continues, perhaps it is fair to investigate Democratic Party members as well as Republicans. It was Nancy Pelosi's responsibility to provide oversight on the CIA procedures in question. She allowed the program to go forward with nary a word, so she should be prosecuted as vigorously as any Republican or the entire venture will be viewed as a nothing more than a partisan hit on America by the leaders the Democratic Party.
