Did any of you neo-cons ever think about this? What if Pelosi, and that small group, were indeed given a walk thru and maybe even given those specifics that you hope she was given re: water boarding. There is a very good chance that all of that group was legally prevented from discussing, "with anyone", what they saw and what they were told.
The prohibition of discussion would apply only with those not already privy to the information.
Nothing in the briefing or the sanction would preclude those members of both Houses of Congress so briefed from submitting to the DCI or even the President a confidential and classified memorandum outlining principled opposition to the policy. Had such a memorandum been made part of the official record back then, then it would be clear now that, by silence, Democrats in Congress did not give their consent to such practices and policies.
Nothing in the briefing or the sanction precludes those members of Congress bringing to the floor of the Congress a bill mandating the declassification and divulging of the material contained in the briefing, for an open and proper debate on the material and its ramifications. Had such a bill been brought, Congress would have had the opportunity to stop any acts it deemed abusive, and to institute proper sanctions for such abuses.
Additionally, Congress is briefed because, by statute and Constitutional authority it is empowered with oversight into such realms. If the policy is wrong, if the policy violates US law, the Congress' charge at such times is to call the President to account. If Congress disclaims the ability to fulfill that function, they not only disclaim the right and need for such briefings, but they, by their declamation, abandons their explicit duties under Article I Section 8 of the Constitution:
- To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;
- To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;
- To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;
- To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;
By these powers Congress and not the President is charged with establishing the rules even for CIA interrogators.
Article II Section 3 of the Constitution charges the President with giving to the Congress information on the state of the Union, and empowers the President to recommend to the Congress such measures "as he shall judge necessary and expedient."
Thus the briefings are mandated, not by will of Congress or even by the will of the President, but by the Constitution. And, by the Constitution, the final say on whether certain rules should stand or fall is given to the Congress and NOT the President.
Thus when Congress chooses silence when presented with the policies, protocols, and procedures authorized for use in CIA interrogations, when Congress chooses silence when told that the CIA IS waterboarding, as Congress has the final say on whether such policies, protocols, and procedures should stand, their silence can be none other than tacit approval.
Secrecy does not absolve Congress of their duty, nor can it absolve Pelosi of her complicity. If waterboarding is wrong, she had a duty to speak and she did not. She, and the rest of Congress
including her fellow Democrats, had the power to stop such action immediately, and chose to look the other way. To now argue that such actions are abhorrent and unconscionable is a disgusting hypocrisy even for Democrats.
