Photo: APFrom The Wall Street Journal:
On September 4, 2002, Porter Goss, then the Chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, and Nancy Pelosi, the ranking Democratic member, were given a classified briefing by the CIA on what the Agency calls "enhanced interrogation techniques," or, in persistent media parlance, "torture." In particular, the CIA briefed the members on the use of these techniques on Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking al Qaeda operative captured in Pakistan the previous March.
Abu Zubaydah was a name the future Speaker was already familiar with. That spring, information obtained from the terrorist had the FBI and other government agencies scrambling to prevent possible attacks on the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. It wasn't clear whether Abu Zubaydah was being truthful. "He is also very skilled at avoiding interrogation," Ms. Pelosi was quoted in Time magazine. "He is an agent of disinformation." It is precisely for such reasons that the CIA resorted to its enhanced techniques later that year, after gaining legal authorization.
Read more ....
Update: Top Pelosi Aide Learned Of Waterboarding in 2003 -- Washington Post
Update #2: List Says Top Democrats Were Briefed on Interrogations -- New York Times
My Comment: I can never understand their reluctance to admit that they knew all that there was to know in regards to interrogation techniques and policy. This is going to shame a number of key Democrats for a very long time.