Postworthy

Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House

May 19, 2009

Dear Fellow Americans–

As you may know, there have been rumors spread about my knowledge of
when and if I was informed of the CIA’s tactics of waterboarding
prisoners prior to February. 5, 2003. I attempted to clear up this
misinformation in a press conference this past week, but was savagely
attacked by a very unprofessional media.  If it seemed that I was
erratic and confused at times during the questioning, it was because I
was literally being publicly tortured by a very intolerant and biased
media, especially CNN, NBC, MSNBC, and other mainstream media shouting
unrelated questions at me such as: "They lied to you? When were you
first told? Did you protest? Why didn’t you tell us? Quite frankly,
Zayn al-Abidin Muhammad Hussein could not have held his composure under
that treatment.

So I would like to address the American public, and make perfectly
clear the events and briefings between the CIA and myself, and to make
clear when I was not informed about the implementation of waterboarding.

On September 4, 2002, the CIA met with me and other members of the
House Intelligence Committee to discuss, at this particular meeting,
what they were not going to do to gather information from Zein
al-Abidin Muhammad Hussein regarding impending terrorist attacks on
America. In this particular briefing, they told us that they were not
going to use waterboarding, even though the Justice Department had
declared it legal and greenlighted this tactic as an avenue to collect
valuable information. But this was seven years ago, and my memory of
the exact dialog of that day is not perfectly clear, as you can
imagine.  I do, however, remember it was 42 degrees and overcast.

On February 5, 2003, five months after the briefing in which the CIA
said they were not going to use waterboarding, the CIA briefed the
Intelligence Committee and stated they had used waterboarding as early
as September 4, 2002, and the information gathered had saved American
lives. I learned of this through my aide, and this was the first time I
had knowledge of the CIA implementing waterboarding. Now at this
point–what did I wear that day?–it is clear the CIA lied to me on
September 4, 2002, about not utilizing waterboarding. This actually may
have been the first time I heard the term "waterboarding". I cannot
honestly say that I met with the CIA in 2002. There is a good chance
they are lying about the briefing even taking place. It was seven years
ago, who can remember–now I remember, I wore a beige Ann Klein
pantsuit that day–details of a conversation that long ago.

The CIA has stated that Pete Goss, then Chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, was present at the briefing. I do not remember
him being at the briefing–if there was one at all. It was seven years
ago–I believe I was wearing brown Ferragamo pumps–and Goss now states
that the CIA did in fact brief the committee about having used
waterboarding to gather valuable information that prevented other
terrorist attacks on the America. Goss, who later became head of the
CIA,  is lying in tandem with the CIA. It is clear that he would
validate the CIA’s misleading statements about the briefing since he
later became head of that agency.

So to be clear, the CIA has been systematically lying to me and the
Congress since 9/11. They mislead the entire Congress about their use
of torture. Believe me, I would have stopped it if I had known, but as
I stated before, I was only told by the CIA that they were not going to
use waterboarding, even though it was legal at that time. When I knew
what I did not know, I was powerless to intercede, and it would have
been bad form since Rep. Jane Harmon was the ranking minority member of
the committee instead of me in 2003.

The Republicans are trying to accuse me of being complicit in the
use of waterboarding and its subsequent results of averting several
planned attacks on America, and possibly saving thousands of lives,
although nothing could be further from the truth. It is the Republicans
who are lying. Just so the record is clear, I was not responsible for
allowing waterboarding and its subsequent preventative actions.

CIA director, Leon Panetta, has stated, after an internal
investigation: "Let me be clear: It is not our policy or practice to
mislead Congress. That is against our laws and our values." He made it
very clear that the CIA did in fact brief me on Sept. 2, 2002. As I
have stated emphatically throughout this ordeal, I have the utmost
respect for the CIA and do not believe they have, nor would they, lie
or mislead the Congress. My criticism of the manner in which the Bush
Administration did not appropriately inform Congress is separate from
my respect for those in the intelligence community who work to keep our
country safe.

As I have stated all along, and to be perfectly clear, this entire
fiasco can be attributed to George Bush and his administration. From
Bush’s lying about Iraq having weapons of mass destruction, to the
lying about waterboarding, it can all be encapsulated within the Bush
administration.

Please remember that at the time, I was fighting a war in Iraq and
trying to get a president elected and did not want to misplace–I was
wearing pearl earrings–my priorities.

I believe that the only way to get to the bottom of this is to move
forward with a Truth Commission to investigate and determine that it
was, in fact, Bush’s fault, and make sure the documents that Dick
Cheney wants declassified are never released, for the security of the
country, of course. And if allowed, I will happily take the time to
lead the Truth Commission and personally pick a non-biased and
non-partisan committee.

Sincerely,

Nancy Pelosi

Speaker of the House