Congressional Briefing
Roberts was briefed on interrogation methods
Posted Monday, December 10, 2007
Sen. Pat Roberts (R)
(Washington Post) Hill briefed on waterboarding in 2002: 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. With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan). ... ... Roberts declined to comment on his participation in the briefings.
(Power Line Blog, By Paul Mirengoff) Key members of Congress had no qualms about waterboarding in 2002: The Washington Post reports that in September 2002 four key members of Congress were fully briefed about the CIA's aggressive detention techniques, including waterboarding. None raised objections. Of course they didn't. At that time, most rational people would have favored waterboarding (and more) as a means of obtaining information from high value terrorists. The four members in question -- Nancy Pelosi, Porter Goss, Bob Graham, and Pat Roberts -- represent a cross-section of the political spectrum. Pelosi is a leftist; Graham is a moderate-liberal; Roberts and Goss are conservatives. But they shared a desire to protect the country from further attack. That desire trumped partisanship, and was sufficient for Pelosi and the others effectively to sign off on what the CIA was doing.
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