Aside from the partisan ire it will surely raise, both parties are likely to be sucked into this blame game. Republican Representative Pete Hoekstra, ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, has pointed out that both Republican and Democrat members of Congress were made aware of these techniques as early as 2002, and there were no objections. Hoekstra has publically called for release of the lists of legislators who were told about the questionable interrogation techniques.
Republican John Boehner, Minority Leader in the House, released statements in 2007 detailing who knew what and when concerning the Bush-era CIA tactics. Nancy Pelosi was among those in the know, according to Boehner. Members of Congress in oversight roles during the period included Democrats Nancy Pelosi and Senators Bob Graham and John D. Rockefeller IV. While Pelosi has publically denied having any knowledge of torture techniques used by the CIA, it seems increasingly unlikely she was entirely in the dark on the matter.
You can just tell this whole, sad mess is going to continue spiraling out of control unless someone squashes the whole thing. The worst part is everyone is currently scrambling to cover their asses instead of entering into a serious talk about what sorts of interrogation techniques should be used by the CIA.
I do not endorse waterboarding. I do not believe it is something that we should engage in, and it appears that the American people agree. To this end President Obama has sworn to suspend use of the tactic and I applaud his decision, even though I worry that this might make us look weaker to our enemies. Perhaps the best move would have been to suspend the torture without telling anyone, thus allowing the perceived threat to create some of the desired pressure. Unfortunately that option went out the window a while ago. That move would have required some bi-partisanship, a state of affairs we are sadly lacking in these days. Perhaps we can take a first step in the right direction by letting the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence finish its work before the “Truth Commission” has a chance to start burning witches (and possibly most of Washington D.C.).
