In 2005, on the Brian Lehrer Show, I asked former Senator Bob Graham about his thoughts on torture and intel gathering. If what he said is true in response, I believe him when he says he was not briefed about "harsh interrogation tactics." Follow me over the jump,
For those who want to listen, the question and response comes at 25:20 of the segement.
Mahler3: Hi how are you? Good Morning Senator.
Senator Graham: Good Morning Ian.
Mahler3: My comment is that there’s another storyline here which is sort of not being talked about - the history of the CIA and recent things that have come to light that sort of indicate a continuing line of this; which is torture and covert action in their history. A recent article, that came out yesterday, by Dana Priest in the Washington Post, indicated that the CIA was torturing folks in Afghanistan and in Iraq. Some of their torture resulted in death of the detainees. Considering that when we’ve needed intelligence we’ve used the CIA to conduct programs like the Phoenix Program and supported people who torture people in places like El Salvador and Chile.....
Snip (yes I went a bit off topic)
Considering that we have a the new Director of National Intelligence which has been tied to torture in Honduras that’s John Negroponte. And god knows what Porter Goss was doing when he was was stationed in Central America; is this a way we’re going to proceed to get intelligence in the future?
Senator Graham: No.
Sarah Crichton: Senator,
Senator Graham: Um,
Sarah Crichton: yes, sorry.
Senator Graham: It is a fundamental precept of the United States Constitution that we do not use torture as a means of eliciting information. Not only does it violate our fundamental values of human rights, pragmatically, if a person is being tortured, what they have to say to escape the torture is inherently suspect. I am extremely disappointed at, more than disappointed, outraged at the fact that this administration has seemed to countenanced what most human beings would described as torture and has not exercised any accountability for those who allegedly did it on a rogue basis. I hope the new leadership of the National Intelligence Directorate and the new leadership at the CIA will take seriously our national commitment not to abuse persons and recognize the fact that there are other means that are appropriate that meet international standards to secure information - not use the thuggery of torture.
As awkward and rambling as my question was, Senator Graham's answer was articulate, clear, and concise. When I listen to it now, it's a thing of beauty really. An absolute repudiation of torture both on moral and practical grounds.
If you take Senator Graham at his word, he was most definitely not briefed about water boarding, walling or any other "harsh" interrogation tactics. In his answer, Graham says he doesn't think torture works and it is a fundamental violation of our constitution.
CIA has never had much respect for the two congressional committees that are tasked with oversight. They have always acted as the covert arm of the executive branch. Only until after the Church and Pike Committees was it that Congress created the Senate Intelligence Committee and House Select Committee on Intelligence. Truthfully the head of the CIA and those around him at the top posts know that they serve at the pleasure of the president - they could truly give a rat's ass about the "gang of eight" who they basically view as interfering and at worst a potential source of leaks.
So if follow this logic, neither Graham nor Polosi received an in depth briefing on water boarding or any of the other "thuggery" that the CIA was engaging in to collect "intelligence."