Pelosi admits waterboard briefing

Under pressure to explain conflicting stories, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Thursday acknowledged for the first time that in 2003 she was told waterboarding and other tough tactics were being used on suspected terrorists and did not object to them, even as she defiantly accused the CIA of lying to her and Congress about the use of such controversial techniques during 2002 briefings.

The CIA, in an unusually curt response, defended its account that showed Mrs. Pelosi was briefed about the use of enhanced interrogation techniques such as waterboarding in a Sept. 4, 2002, meeting.

Mrs. Pelosi, California Democrat, said the CIA lied to her in 2002, lied in the run-up to the Iraq war, and is misleading now.

“They mislead us all the time. I was fighting the war in Iraq at that point, too, you know,” the House’s top Democrat told reporters, fending off tough questions during her weekly press briefing at the Capitol.

Mrs. Pelosi said the first time she was told the tactics were being used on suspects was when her top intelligence aide notified her on Feb. 5, 2003.

“In February 2003, a member of my staff informed me that the Republican chairman and the Democratic ranking member of the intelligence committee had been briefed about the use of certain techniques which had been the subject of earlier legal opinions,” she said.

She offered multiple explanations about why she didn’t object at that time. She said objecting was useless - “By the time we were told, we were finding out that it had been used before. You know, in other words, that was beyond the point” - but also said it was no longer her role, since by 2003 she had become House minority leader.

Her successor as the top Democrat on the intelligence committee, Rep. Jane Harman, California Democrat, did write a letter after the 2003 briefing objecting to the tactics.

The CIA said it stood by its record of the 2002 briefing that showed, based on recollections of agency employees, that Mrs. Pelosi was briefed that techniques had been used on terrorist suspect Abu Zubaydah.

“It is not the policy of this agency to mislead the United States Congress,” said George Little, a spokesman for the CIA.

Last week the CIA submitted a chart to Congress detailing information at the briefings, and Mr. Little said it showed the techniques were discussed at that 2002 meeting.

“The language in the chart - ‘a description of the particular EITs that had been employed’ - is true to the language in the agency’s records.”

Republicans said Mrs. Pelosi’s account is full of contradictions, and said her comments Thursday were an uncalled-for attack on the CIA.

“I think it is outrageous that the member of Congress would call our terror fighters liars,” said Sen. Christopher S. Bond of Missouri, ranking Republican on the Senate intelligence committee. “It seems the playbook is to blame the terror fighters. We ought to be supporting them.”

Democrats have been harshly critical of the interrogation techniques, with President Obama calling them “torture.” Some Democrats have called for those who approved the techniques to face prosecution - which is why Republicans have been so keen on pointing to Democrats who were also aware and didn’t object, saying that meant at least tacit approval.

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