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CIA Told Pelosi About Waterboarding: Report
Newly released documents show speaker was briefed in 2002
By Jason Farago
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Posted May 8, 09 6:16 AM CDT
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(Newser)
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Nancy Pelosi and other Congressional leaders received multiple briefings on the CIA's use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques, according to new information released by the Obama administration. Records suggest that Pelosi learned of the CIA's interrogation of Abu Zubaydah in a September 2002 briefing that covered the "particular" methods employed. He had been waterboarded 83 times the previous month, but the speaker has repeatedly said she was never told that waterboarding was used.
As the Los Angeles Times reports, the records were released at the request of Congressional Republicans, who have accused Democratic colleagues of hypocrisy for blasting the Bush administration's use of techniques widely considered torture. The records also show that Jay Rockefeller, the West Virginia senator who has repeatedly criticized the CIA's interrogation program, was briefed in 2003 on "how the waterboard was used."