Pelosi Knew of Waterboarding in 2002

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi was given a top secret briefing on waterboarding in 2002 the Washington Post reports today:

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.

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.

Did Pelosi act outraged at the time? No:

Pelosi declined to comment directly on her reaction to the classified briefings. But a congressional source familiar with Pelosi's position on the matter said the California lawmaker did recall discussions about enhanced interrogation. The source said Pelosi recalls that techniques described by the CIA were still in the planning stage -- they had been designed and cleared with agency lawyers but not yet put in practice -- and acknowledged that Pelosi did not raise objections at the time.

That is spin in the extreme. The "planning" was far enough along that Rep. Jane Harman sent a letter explaining her opposition of the technique. Why didn't Pelosi do the same if she had any reservations about using waterboarding at the time? Because she didn't have an reservations until it was disclosed and she saw a chance to slam the Bush administration. Also note that Senator Rockefeller didn't object to the method as well.

I can't wait to see what comes out during the general election with regard to secret briefings that were conducted.