Docs Show Rockefeller Was Briefed In 2003 On "How The Water Board Was Used"

By GottaLaff

Even if they knew, they were not allowed to discuss, question, or reveal what they knew:

In February, 2003, Sen. Jay Rockefeller, then the ranking Democrat on the Senate intelligence committee, was briefed -- along with Intel chair Pat Roberts and a staff member for each senator -- on "enhanced interrogation techniques" (EIT's, in the bloodless bureaucratic abbreviation.)

The document's description of the briefing reads in part:

EITs "described in considerable detail" including "how the water board was used." The process by which the techniques were approved by DoJ was also raised.

Over the next few years, according to the documents, the full House and Senate intelligence committees would also receive briefings that explicitly mentioned waterboarding. But that February 2003 briefing is the earliest one listed in the document that mentions the technique.

And here's the description of another briefing given to Rockefeller and Roberts, in July 2004:

Briefed on interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, abdominal slap, and sleep deprivation. Also briefed on actionable intelligence derived from EITs.

It's not news that Rockefeller was briefed on some aspects of the torture program. Nor has Rockefeller done nothing about the issue.

And of course, as far as we can find, he hasn't denied that he was briefed on the fact that waterboarding was happening, as Pelosi essentially has. Indeed, the West Virginia senator, who this year moved over to chair the appropriations committee, has been relatively restrained in his comments about the torture debate.

Still, Rockefeller has, rightly, had harsh words for the Bushies who approved torture. CNN reported last month. [...]

But if nothing else, the documents -- which appear to show that Rockefeller had an early, detailed, look at what was being done -- suggest that the senator, like many of his colleagues, was hardly a profile in courage on the issue.

The fact is, BushCo ordered torture. How about getting to the bottom of that? I'm rushing to work or I'd do better than a couple of sentences on this one.

H/t: TexasLou