New documents obtained from the federal government under a Freedom of Information Act request from Judicial Watch confirm that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was briefed by the CIA on the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, on whom "enhanced interrogation techniques" were used, in apparent contradiction to her own statements.
Which members of Congress knew exactly what about the enhanced techniques, which included waterboarding, became an issue when President Obama issued an order banning such "torture"
soon after his inauguration last year.
Now Judicial Watch has obtained a largely redacted compilation of 75 pages of CIA documents about the issue and has posted them online.
"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who previously denied she was briefed by the CIA on the use of these techniques, is specifically referenced in a briefing that took place on April 24, 2002, regarding the 'ongoing interrogations of Abu Zubaydah.' Zubaydah had been subjected to the enhanced interrogation techniques," the report from Judicial Watch said.
Pelosi has denied having been briefed on the waterboarding sessions, and at one point accused members of the CIA of misleading members of Congress about the issue. In a statement posted on her website, she said, "Of the 40 CIA briefings to Congress reported recently in the press, I was only briefed once, on September 4, 2002, as I have previously stated."
She continued, "As I said in my statement of December 9, 2007: 'I was briefed on interrogation techniques the administration was considering using in the future. The administration advised that legal counsel for both the CIA and the Department of Justice had concluded that the techniques were legal.'"
"I had no further briefings on the techniques," she said at the time.
"My understanding of the briefing I received is consistent with the description that CIA General Counsel Scott Muller provided to Congresswoman Jane Harman in a letter dated February 28, 2003, which states: 'As we informed both you and the leadership of the Intelligence Committees last September, a number of Executive Branch lawyers including lawyers from the Department of Justice participated in the determination that, in the appropriate circumstances, the use of these techniques is fully consistent with U.S. law.'"
Pelosi's office, contacted today by WND, did not respond to a request for comment.
Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, said the documents regarding congressional "Torture Briefings" came in response to its lawsuit against the CIA over the documentation.
The documents, Judicial Watch said, previously marked "Top Secret," were from 2001 and 2007. They show that the CIA briefed 68 members of Congress on the CIA interrogation program, including so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques."
Judicial Watch said the documents include the dates of all congressional briefings and, in some cases, the members of Congress in attendance and the specific subjects discussed.
Previously obtained documents from the office of former Vice President Dick Cheney under a separate legal action brought out details of the effectiveness of the "enhanced interrogation techniques."
A June 1, 2005, CIA report called "Detainee Reporting Pivotal for the War Against al-Qaida," said, "Detainee reporting accounts for more than half of all HUMINT [human intelligence] reporting on al-Qaida since the program began," Judicial Watch said.
"Interestingly, this fact was omitted in later versions of the report obtained by Judicial Watch. All versions, however, conclude: 'One of the gains to detaining the additional terrorists has been the thwarting of a number of al-Qaida operations in the United States and overseas,'" the report said.
The federal government suspended the use of "enhanced interrogation techniques" by the Detainee Treatment Act in 2005, and Obama officially banned such techniques in January 2009.
However, just two months later, Obama rejected concerns from national security experts and ordered the release of documents about the government's so-called "torture," at the same time withholding information about the results of the program.
The conflict deepened, Judicial Watch said, when in an April 2009 CNN report, President Obama's intelligence chief, Admiral Dennis Blair, reported to colleagues that "high value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al-Qaida organization that was attacking."
The statement, however, was omitted when Blair's office released the memo to the press.
"It is unfortunate that it took a federal court order to force the Obama administration to release these documents," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "These documents indicate that members of Congress approved of and were well aware of the use of these enhanced interrogation techniques and their lifesaving value. It is disturbing that we no longer use interrogation techniques that have demonstrably stopped terrorist attacks and saved American lives. The Obama administration has made this country less safe by its mishandling of the enhanced interrogation program."
The documents obtained by Judicial Watch confirm that information about al-Qaida plots against the U.S. West Coast, London and Karachi were uncovered. From the documents themselves, comes this assessment of the value of the techniques:
Prior to the capture of Abu Zubaydah in March 2002, we had large gaps in knowledge of al-Qaida's organizational structure, key members and associates, intentions and capabilities, possible targets for the next attack, and its presence around the globe. Within months of his arrest, Abu Zubaydah provided details about al-Qaida's organizational structure, key operatives, and modus operandi. For example, it was Abu Zubaydah, early in his detention, who identified KSM [Khalid Sheikh Mohammad] as the mastermind of 9/11. Until that time KSM did not even appear in our chart of key al-Qaida members and associates.
Fitton told WND it is becoming more and more clear that Congress had knowledge of the so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" and their value.
"You don't have these numerous briefings over the years if it wasn't working," he said. If they weren't working, "Why didn't Congress put a stop to them?"
"Congress knew they were working."
But he raised the possibility of political influence in the release of information about the program and what went on.
"The documents that Obama has chosen to release don't explicitly tie the information being obtained … [to the prevention of attacks.] A fair interpretation [says it] resulted in intelligence that helped prevent terrorist attacks," he said.
There had been numerous reports at the time in 2009 about Pelosi's oft-repeated denials she knew about waterboarding. Politico reported that it was in September of 2002 when Pelosi and others were given a "virtual tour" of the CIA's operations, including references to the waterboarding.
Fox News also reported a short time later when Pelosi accused the CIA of misleading Congress.
The Washington Post also reported on the briefing for Pelosi in September 2002.
WND columnist Larry Elder, a syndicated radio talk-show host, said the bottom line is that in the aftermath of 9/22, "most Americans – including the Democratic leadership in Congress – wanted to prevent another attack. … Speaker Nancy Pelosi understood, accepted and even encouraged harsh interrogation techniques to prevent another attack."
"But public opinion turned against the war. Then waterboarding became 'torture.' And Bush became not simply a commander in chief who, in good faith, relied on near-unanimous but faulty intelligence. He became, as then-Minority Leader Harry Reid said, 'a loser' and 'a liar,'" Elder wrote.
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