Interrogation

Much has been made as of late over questionable techniques used by the CIA while interrogating terror suspects. Democrats in particular have been uniquely hysterical in their criticism of the CIA and by extension the entire Bush Administration over what they perceive as Executive leniency toward harsh interrogation techniques, most notably, the procedure known as waterboarding. On just about any given day if you turn on C-Span, you're likely to see a Democratic senator or congressman denouncing the procedure as torture and implying that this, the most corrupt of administrations in US history is secretly condoning medieval, sadistic methods of information extraction. But evidence is trickling out of a secret meeting that took place in 2002 between CIA officials and a select group of Congressmen, Nancy Pelosi included. Various interrogation techniques were explained to the lawmakers, including that of waterboarding, and no objections were raised at the time. Here's a Washington Post piece that discusses the embarrassing revelation. But don't expect to hear much about this on the networks.

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.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/08/AR2007120801664.html