Thursday, April 23, 2009

Could be culpable . . .

I think it's safe to say these are the members of Congress who knew about and signed off on the "enhanced" interrogation techniques. Let's throw 'em all in jail!

The Senate Select Committee on Intelligence Committee members in August 2002 in order of seniority:

Bob Graham (D-FL)
Carl Levin (D-MI)
John D. Rockefeller (D-W.VA)
Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Ron Wyden (D-OR)
Richard J. Durbin (D-IL)
Evan Bayh (D-IN)
John Edwards (D-NC)
Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Richard C. Shelby (R-AL)
Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
James M. Inhofe (R-OK)
Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Mike DeWine (R-OH)
Fred Thompson (R-TN)
Richard Lugar (R-IN)


The House Intelligence Committee members in August 2002 in order of seniority:

Porter Goss (R-FL)
Doug Bereuter (R-NE)
Michael N. Castle (R-DE)
Sherwood L. Boehlert (R-NY)
Jim Gibbons (R-NV)
Ray LaHood (R-IL)
Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA)
Peter Hoekstra (R-MI, now ranking member)
Richard Burr (R-NC)
Saxby Chambliss (R-NC)
Leonard Boswell (D-IA, joined the committee in 2001)
Terry Everett (R-AL, joined the committee in 2002)
Nancy Pelosi (D-CA)
Sanford D. Bishop (D-GA)
Jane Harman (D-CA)
Gary A. Condit (D-CA)
Tim Roemer (D-IA)
Silvestre Reyes (D-TX, now chair, joined the committee in 2001)
Leonard L. Boswell (D-IA)
Collin C. Peterson (D-MN)
Bud Cramer (D-AL, joined the committee in 2002)
J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL, Ex Officio)
Richard A. Gephardt (D-MO, Ex Officio)

After the House reorganized in January 2003, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) replaced Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) as ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee On Intelligence, and Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-FL) became the number two Democrat. Pelosi replaced Gephardt, serving ex officio. There were no leadership changes among Republicans.

9 comments:

Mike West said...

That would be one big paddy wagon. You know they will all deny that they didn't know what "water-boarding" really was. Only Cheney & Bush were smart enough to know what it was.

vwatt said...

Hey, if they were all briefed on an illegal technique, then that must mean the briefers and briefees are not legally culpable! I know when I when through SERE(Survival, Resistance, Escape, and Evasion) training we were briefed that we would be exposed to torture techniques not allowed under the Geneva convention-in order to prepare us for what may lay in store if captured. Since I was briefed on some of what was in store for us I never held any animosity towards those who were dripping the water down my nose while restrained or beating the backs of my thighs with sticks-hey, I was briefed-it must be ok!!
Cheney even has his daughter on TV spinning for him now...he is in some serious doo-doo, along with his so-called "legal" team. It is fun watching him squirm.

vwatt said...

It seems there are conflicting reports on who knew what and when. I don't know if it makes any difference if Congress was briefed that torture was authorized for future use in the opinion of the Bush administration vs. having already done it. I doubt if Pelosi or Reid would have done anything at the time either way. Maybe the plan was to wait and brief Congress it was being used after seeing if it worked after 183 times...

"The Bush administration did not inform Congress that it had waterboarded detainees in classified briefings, after the agency had already done so, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) charged Thursday.

Pelosi told reporters that the administration officials only told her and those in a classified briefing in the fall of 2002 that they believed they had the legal authority to do so, based on Office of Legal Counsel memos which have recently been released by the Obama administration.

"In that or any other briefing...we were not, and I repeat, were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation techniques were used," said Pelosi. "What they did tell us is that they had some legislative counsel...opinions that they could be used, but not that they would."

Pelosi said that the officials promised to inform Congress if they ever did waterboard a detainee, but never did so. Her assertion contradicts a recently released Senate committee report that cited CIA records to claim that senior members of Congress in both parties were briefed on the waterboarding, which had already been done to detainee Abu Zubaydah. Pelosi, in the strongest terms should could conjure, said the report was untrue and that she never approved, tacitly or otherwise, the waterboarding.

Brodad Unkabuddy said...

He said, she said. Who would YOU believe?

By contrast, the ranking Republican on the House committee at the time, Porter J. Goss of Florida, who later served as C.I.A. director, recalls a clear message that the methods would be used.

“We were briefed, and we certainly understood what C.I.A. was doing,” Mr. Goss said in an interview. “Not only was there no objection, there was actually concern about whether the agency was doing enough.”

Based on the mood of the country four months after 9/11, I believe Representative Goss, the future head of the CIA.

Brodad Unkabuddy said...

You gotta know Pelosi is covering her ample butt.

vwatt said...

A lot of butt covering going on by everyone....all based on legal opinions that were written to support a plan of action(torture) that was being pushed from Cheney's office. What I find really disturbing is that about half of the waterboarding sessions(the second 92) were done with the main purpose of trying to elicit links between Al-Queda, 911, and Iraq involvement-all occurring back when Cheney/Bush were scrambling to justify why they went into Iraq(WMDs, then get rid of Sadaaam, then to spread freedom, etc.). They were butt covering way back then and using torture to give them cover!!

Brodad Unkabuddy said...

Puh-leeze! Al Qaeda, Osama, or the Taliban didn't sign the Geneva Convention or any other treaty, 3000 people had died on our soil, and the terrorists were intent on doing MORE harm! Besides, they weren't "tortured"! I was waterboarded. You were waterboarded. It wasn't fun, but it didn't leave a mark. This whole thing has become a political nightmare - not for the Bush Administration, but for Obama and his left wing wackos. Pelosi, et al were not only briefed, but they SIGNED OFF on the enhanced interrogation techniques. The 'ole "Bush tricked me" routine is getting older and older and making the dems look dumber and dumber.

vwatt said...

WE did sign the Geneva convention accords...WE are better than them. I guess if someone believes that torture is justified under certain conditions then that is a whole 'nother "moral" discussion. Being waterboarded in a training environment is a whole different ballgame than being held down by unknown people in an unknown country, and not knowing if you will come out alive. As to not leaving any marks, a punctured eardrum recovers quickly and fingernails also grow back in a few months. Not that I have any sympathy for the 911 scumbags, but I hate to see our country reduced to their tactics and level of morality-and torture never produces any reliable information. Just continue to hound their training camps day and night with drone attacks-sooner or later we'll get the big fish.

Brodad Unkabuddy said...

"Being waterboarded in a training environment is a whole different ballgame than being held down by unknown people in an unknown country, and not knowing if you will come out alive. "

Yeah, the feeling Daniel Pearl had just before they cut his head off. Which, by the way, was not part of OUR enhanced interrogation techniques. I also don't recall any terrorist bodies being dragged through the streets of DC. However, I do recall that the residents of Club Gitmo were given access to the Koran, received plenty to eat, were able to exercise, and even allowed to socialize with each other. And NOW are being given the rights of US citizens. Not too bad, I'd say.