Nancy Pelosi Knew about Waterboarding in 2002, and Thought it was Okay

We are now learning from this article that top Democrats were told about, knew about, and had no objections to waterboarding as a means to gather necessary information to stop terrorist threats and capture terrorists as early as 2002.

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.

You read that right, Nancy Pelosi was one of those who received a tour of the CIA and their harsh interrogation techniques in 2002. This tour included showing the tourists, Nancy Pelosi included, the practice of waterboarding. Pelosi, and other Democrats didn’t seam to have a problem with it back then.

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.

Some even said the United States should push harder. This is amazing, isn’t it? Nancy Pelosi, and other Democrats and some Republicans, like to say America should take the high road. They like to say America should be above this type of torture. They tell us that America has lost it’s standing in the world because of this type of harsh interrogation. They say America must take the moral high ground. Remember how they feigned disgust and disdain when they supposedly learned that we were waterboarding terrorists? And now we find out that Nansy Pelosi and others knew all along about it, and they thought it was okay. As a matter of fact, some didn’t think the CIA was going far enough with their interrogations.

So what changed? Did Nancy Pelosi suddenly grow a set of morals? I don’t think so. Waterboarding was considered fine with everyone until they thought it could be used to show us how the president is committing crimes against humanity, and violating a person’s civil rights.

This whole anti-war movement in the Democrat party started as a political movement, not a moral or ethical movement. During the primary season for the 2004 election there was only one anti-war candidate, Howard Dean. When it appeared as though Howard Dean was gaining momentum John Kerry suddenly turned anti-war and proclaimed to Americans, ” I am the true anti-war candidate”. That, in my opinion, is where this whole anti-war movement began. Since that moment in time Democrats have been trying to out anti-war each other. This is now on full display in this primary season.

They have continually tried to undermine the war effort in order to gain political advantage, and it has worked.

When shown the interrogation techniques in 2002, the country was still solidly behind the president, who would dare to speak out against ANY effort to capture the terrorists who carried out the September 11th attacks? If Nansy Pelosi was against waterboarding back then and didn’t say anything because she was afraid of the backlash it shows us a real character flaw. If she was actually for it back then, and is against it now for political gain, it shows us perhaps an even bigger character flaw.

As the anti-war movement grows, a movement that the Democrats created, Democrats have seized on any issue they feel they can use to bring down the Bush presidency. Waterboarding is just such an issue. It doesn’t matter that they were for it before they were against it. Their opposition to waterboarding is nothing but a tool designed to help us lose the war on terror.

This is political gamesmanship at it’s worse. Nancy Pelosi knew all along about waterboarding and had no problem with it until it was decided they could hurt George W Bush with it. Somebody leaked this out that the CIA was using this practice, could it have been Nancy Pelosi herself? Who knows? To think someone would put their re-election ahead of what is right for the country is despicable. The fact that Nancy Pelosi knew the CIA was waterboarding and didn’t say anything until it could be used to hurt the president, actually, to hurt the country is underhanded to say the least, traitorous at worst.

Perhaps this is San Francisco morals at their finest.