It wasn’t too long ago when Democrats were professing they could not confirm Michael Mukasey as the new Attorney General unless he was willing to classify waterboarding as torture, and denounce it. The left was in an uproar over his continued refusal to denounce the practice until he had the opportunity to speak with ranking members of the CIA to discuss the practice in more detail. Democrats swore they would not confirm him until he gave in to their demands, and as we have seen with every other demand Democrats have made, they eventually put their tail between their legs and gave in.

It was known at that time the debate over waterboarding was not over however. Protesters continue to show up at Washington DC and demonstrate waterboarding on volunteers, presumably in an effort to show it actually is torture, while ignoring the fact that those waterboarded underwent the process willingly.

Yesterday the Washington Post printed an article which demonstrates the hypocrisy of Democrats, and their willingness to pander to their anti-war base. In 2002, four members of Congress including current speaker of the house Nancy Pelosi were given a first hand look at the CIA’s interrogation techniques:

In September 2002, four members of Congress met in secret for a first look at a unique CIA program designed to wring vital information from reticent terrorism suspects in U.S. custody. For more than an hour, the bipartisan group, which included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), was given a virtual tour of the CIA’s overseas detention sites and the harsh techniques interrogators had devised to try to make their prisoners talk.

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.

“The briefer was specifically asked if the methods were tough enough,” said a U.S. official who witnessed the exchange

Yet long before “waterboarding” entered the public discourse, the CIA gave key legislative overseers about 30 private briefings, some of which included descriptions of that technique and other harsh interrogation methods, according to interviews with multiple U.S. officials with firsthand knowledge.

This news seriously undermines the Democrats stance on the issue as it shows they were fully aware of the methods the CIA was using to extract information from suspected terrorists. It also shows, through their lack of action, they consented to the practice. While some will argue that Pelosi and company were not allowed to object publicly due to national security issues, it is important to remember that Congress has the authority to end CIA practices they do not agree with.

In 2005 and in 2006 Congress attempted to declare waterboarding as torture, hence illegal. Both times they failed. In 2007 with the Democrats in control of both the House and the Senate, not one vote was taken on the matter, even as Democrats asked Michael Mukasey to make a statement they themselves would not make. If Nancy Pelosi and company truly felt waterboarding was an illegal, and unnecessary act, it is well within their power to stop it through legislation.

The news this weekend that Pelosi had prior knowledge of the CIA’s use of waterboarding should give everyone an insight into why no such legislation was brought forward.

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Congress, Dumb Dems, Features, Liberals, Politics, Terrorism