I was for torture before I was against torture...

Anyone heard about the vast conspiracy engulfing Washington at the moment? Apparently the CIA lied to Nancy Pelosi about waterboarding!

Click here for a very interesting article about the whole subject, excerpt below.

A disturbing epidemic of amnesia seems to be plaguing my former colleagues on Capitol Hill. After the September 11, 2001, attacks, members of the committees charged with overseeing our nation’s intelligence services had no higher priority than stopping al-Qaeda. In the autumn of 2002, while I was chairman of the House of Representatives’ intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA’s “High Value Terrorist Program,” including the development of “enhanced interrogation techniques” and what those techniques were…

For all those people who recall the atmosphere back then, this was a time when terrorist attacks seemed imminent. There was the shoe bomber and those pricks who ensured that we can no longer take liquids onboard planes. The Democratic Party was attacking Bush hysterically for not doing ENOUGH about national security. Almost all of Congress voted for war with Iraq. One of Al Queda´s most senior people, who had helped to organise a majority of their attacks, was in captivity and refusing to talk, because he knew the US wouldn´t torture him.

The CIA came up with a series of proposals for dealing with such situations. They put forward these proposals. These proposals were vetted thoroughly by lawyers who assessed them against US and international law. Congressional and Senate leaders (of both parties) were briefed thoroughly about this whole process.

And then, after all this, three people were waterboarded. Now I¨m sure it wouldn´t be a very pleasant experience, I´m certainy not going to volunteer for it. But the fact is that it had been done on US military personnel to prepare them for interrogation. It was done within strict guidelines and under medical supervision.

No toe nails were pulled out, no blood was let, no red hot metal was applied to the body. Compared to such things waterboarding is not torture. Yes it´s unpleasant, but so is doing the dishes, or listening to country music.

Now that a sense of proportion has been established, let´s have those Democrats who were briefed about and agreed to such operations come forward and stop being hypocrites. It was the right thing to do, it gained valuable information at an important time and we should be prepared to do it again if need be.

For another POV on the subject, I highly recommend this link here to a Pelosi press release on the matter.

cheers

Harry

edit - stupid blogspot! In previews this all looks good, but when I publish everything goes to italics. Arrrgh!