Speaker of the House of Nancy Pelosi has come under attack over the last few weeks regarding the use of waterboarding on suspected terrorists. The CIA claimed that Pelosi was present at a September 2002 briefing where waterboarding tactics were discussed.
Pelosi, however, denies the claims and continues to stand by her statement that she was unaware of waterboarding until a 2003 briefing, where she says members of Congress were mislead by statement made by the CIA during that briefing.
The tactic of waterboarding had been stirring a great deal of discussion prior to the Pelosi accusations. The question as to whether or not waterboarding was an acceptable form of torture had been dominating the airwaves and putting Democrats into a constant state of accusation and Republicans defense. It was after the general consensus in the U.S. came out against such torture tactics that suddenly the debate went from being about waterboarding as a torture tactic to Pelosi and when exactly she knew it was being used.
Speaker Pelosi has remained steadfast in her claims that she did not know about waterboarding in 2002 and that the CIA misled Congress. Many members of Congress support her claims and she has said she welcomes notes from 2002 and 2003 briefings to be made public in order to prove those claims. Whether those notes are made public is up to the CIA. Many members of the Republican party claim the speaker is lying and are demanding an apology and resignation.
Whether Speaker Pelosi was made aware of waterboarding or not in 2002 is not the true problem in this situation. Even if she had been briefed on waterboarding, the Bush administration had already declared the rules of the Geneva Convention did not apply in the shadow of 9/11 and in the Iraq war. Pelosi’s open opposition to waterboarding would have stirred some debate, but it is unlikely it would have prevented the technique from being used.
And even if the CIA did withhold details regarding waterboarding, their role in protecting the secrecy of information is unclear and could be defended by many.
The easiest way to answer many of the questions about this situation is for the CIA to release papers regarding the briefings. Then the debate can be go back to being about what action should be taken against the people who chose to conduct this form of torture in the first place.
