Rep. Harman Claims She Was Not ‘Fully Briefed’ On Secret Torture Memos
Rep. Harman Claims She Was Not ‘Fully Briefed’ On Secret Torture Memos
In statements to the press this week, President Bush and White House press secretary Dana Perino claimed that members of Congress had been “fully briefed” on a classified CIA program that sanctioned the use of harsh interrogation techniques. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman John Rockefeller disputed this claim on Friday. This morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said that she too was not briefed on the secret memos.
At a town hall meeting with the Democratic Club of Westside Progressives in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon, Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) was asked about her knowledge of the secret “torture memos” revealed this week by the New York Times. Like Rockefeller and Pelosi, Harman said she was not “fully briefed”:
We were not fully briefed. We were told about operational details but not these memos. Jay Rockefeller said the same thing, and I associate myself with his remarks. And we want to see these memos.
At the time of the secret approval to the CIA in 2005, Rep. Harman was the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee and a member of the “Gang of Eight” routinely briefed on intelligence matters.
At the same town hall meeting, Harman revealed that an unidentified Republican member of Congress told her that if President Bush were to attack Iran, then even he would vote for impeachment.
– dday
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UPDATE: dday has more tidbits on the Harman town hall.
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54 Responses to “Rep. Harman Claims She Was Not ‘Fully Briefed’ On Secret Torture Memos”
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Lies regarding something this significant to the american people and pretending that members of congress have been briefed about these questionable programs of the Bush Regime, I think, would definitely constitute “high crimes & misdemeanors”.
Now let’s move forward with impeachment proceedings, shall we?
October 7th, 2007 at 5:39 pmLet these congressmen “sing” about how little they were actually briefed, if they were even briefed at all. These lies should hold water since lying to congress is an impeachable offense.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:40 pmTime to pit the Gang of Eight against the Bush Crime Cabal!! I think we know who will win this round.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:40 pmIt’s become clear that Bush has lied to everyone about everything and has zero credibility. He’s impotent as a leader at this point and at a time this critical in our history, we definitely do not need a scumbag as president. Oust him today!
October 7th, 2007 at 5:41 pmWell gee, has Dana been telling more lies? I’m simply shocked.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:41 pmDoes anyone still believe Bush’s official story about 911 at this point?? hahahah! It would have to be selective belief at this point.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:42 pmHi Verbalkint: Isn’t Dana the quintessential “kewpie” of the GOP? Her plastered on smile is sagging and her lies are becoming very obvious. I give Dana girl about another month before she cracks totally.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:43 pmShocking that Bush would actually lie to ranking members of congress simply to maintain his diabolical plots, isn’it it??
October 7th, 2007 at 5:43 pmAnd yet, despite it all, our bedwetting 29 percenter trolls continue to praise Commander Codpiece. Where’s Vendetta? Where’s Jake? Where’s CT_whatever? Let’s hear them defend Emperor Chimpy’s inherent right to lie, lie, lie about everything.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:45 pmI give Dana girl about another month before she cracks totally.
Comment by Veritas — October 7, 2007 @ 5:43 pm
I can almost see her face aging right now. I always thought she was ugly, though. Any surface beauty she may aspire too is overcome by the poisonous lies that ooze from her lying mouth.
October 7th, 2007 at 5:47 pmWe cannot win hearts and minds this way.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:00 pmread my post on socialism.
http://oldhacks.blogspot.com/ 2007/ 10/ my-respone-to-socialism-doesnt-work.html
October 7th, 2007 at 6:04 pmWhy do they tell us only now?
Aren’t these grounds for removing the sitting president from office?
This is probably the biggest military blunder in the US’ history, and yet, here we are, arguing over whether or not Congress were fully briefed.
What’s worse, the Senate has, again, giving its stamp of approval for military action in the Middle East (mind you, the actual wording of the resolution condemning Iran is irrelevant, because Iran was condemned for aiding in the killing of US soldiers in Iraq, which can be easily used as an excuse for attacking that country).
It seems to me Congress members are willingly refusing to learn from their own mistakes. Harman and the rest can protest all they want about Iraq, but their actions concerning the White House Iran “policy” are very telling IMO.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:08 pmAt the same town hall meeting, Harman revealed that an unidentified Republican member of Congress told her that if President Bush were to attack Iran, then even he would vote for impeachment.
Bingo!!! Now let’s get this organized, get the entire House and Senate on board. Go ahead, chymp, make my day.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:16 pmSo what you gonna do, Janie?
You took this administration at its word over and over and over again, and like Leahy and Reid and Pelosi and even Conyers, impeachment is “off the table.” Each week, it’s “We’re giving you one more chance to (comply with subpoenas, produce documents/testimony, etc.)”
None of it washes anymore. You, Jane Harman (and all of the other Dems in office) are as much the problem as Bush and Cheney are. It’s time to vote you out of office, too.
The Democrats have betrayed the American people as much as Bush and Republicans have. It’s long past time to sweep them all out government and Washington (end the lobbying businesses that they wind up in after they leave office). Jane Harman is as much a war criminal as Bush — she’s bought and paid for by AIPAC.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:22 pmso Congress wasn’t “fully” briefed about the bush regime’s illegal activities. What is Congress going to do about it? Are they going to do their jobs and protect the people from a criminal regime? Or are they just going to go on TV and whine about how no one told them? (My money is on the latter.)
October 7th, 2007 at 6:25 pm.
The Democrats have betrayed the American people as much as Bush and Republicans have.
so true, but it is also true that Americans have betrayed democracy and the Constitution by not caring enough to know what is going on; for letting the politicians get away with their crimes and corruption; for not replacing a government so steeped in lying to and ripping off the governed that a president can operate with impunity despite 2 YEARS of disapproval of 2/3 of the governed.
In a democracy, every citizen has an obligation to be informed and to participate. The criminal bush regime, co-conspirator republicans, government propagandizing media and Vichy dems is what you get when the citizenry doesn’t care enough to know what is happening.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:33 pm.
Another Democrat pleading ignorance, as if they would have done anything differently, had they known - this is called PLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY - not leadership.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:45 pmActually, Bush was careful not to make the “fully briefed” claim. All he said was: “the techniques that we use have been fully disclosed to appropriate members of the United States Congress.” Not a word about the secret memos.
And even Dana Perino covered herself on the lie she had been told to tell: “What I can tell you is I have been assured that they have been fully briefed” and “I have been told they were fully briefed.”.
Smart girl. She’s not taking any of this on herself.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:50 pmI don’t see how mincing words such as “briefed” or “fully briefed” exonerates anyone lying here. Regardless of the adjective next to the very, the assertion he is falsely making as well as the assumption of the veracity of the claim he is making by his use of words, discredits both him and Dana Perino. There’s just not putting lipstick on a pig. Dana is looking darker with each passing day as though she is carrying the burden of an avalanche of lies upon her shoulders.
As for as the implied definition of “briefing congress”, Bush is totally guilty for providing the appearances of doing something which he did not - and in most people’s book, that’s considered downright lying.
Whether he uses the descriptive adjective “fully” is totally irrelevant to the verb “briefed” in this context.
It’s as though you have to nail this slimebag to the wall on everything he says to see what he meant by it all. This is the hallmark of a lying scumbag.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:55 pmSo Ms Pelosi, how much more of this will it take to impeach this entire administration. If this were another country, the UN would have moved on this long ago to assure fair elections and to assist the American people in escaping this criminal regeim.
Bush and Cheney must go before they start another illegal war and America becomes a rogue state in the eyes of the world.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:57 pmWhat is the difference between being “briefed” as though to imply being briefed totally or “fully briefed” as though there can be a partial briefing. Not on programs this unconstitutional! Telline the congress half truths and calling it being “briefed” is simply not going to cut the mustard this time. Time to foist this twisted demon out on his ear.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:57 pmDana is just a poorer version of Snow-job and McClellan before her. She has all the credibility of a used car salesman working the last day of the month.
October 7th, 2007 at 6:57 pmThe longer that Ms Pelosi drags her feet on the obvious wishes of the people for impeachment of the entire sorry lot of crims, the more damage she is doing to the Democratic Party. If you’re a democrat, then call the Madame and ask her what the hell she’s doing for you today!
October 7th, 2007 at 6:58 pmHi Upside: I’m with verbalkint in that Dana is looking very wan, tired, and new lines are sprouting up on her face each time I see her. I guess she didn’t learn that we are (on a cellular level) what we think and if we know that we are pimping ourselves for a paycheck, it will catch up to us physically. She’s too young to have any common sense; in fact, she has no sense at all in taking a job as mouthpiece/whore of the Bush Crime cabal.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:00 pmComment by Veritas — October 7, 2007 @ 7:00 pm
And I hate to admit she is from my state (Colorado) and I hope she never comes back. She is a whore …….. and not even a good one, at that.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:02 pmNo one was given the secret information about the torture acts done by the CIA. Now there is proof with medical records of the victims. Gonzales and Cheney made the order after the day of the invasion. People have been picked up off the street by mistake and taken all over the world and then tortured by the CIA. Now the CIA is safe while the criminal White House is still in office but when it the term of the Satan Worshippers is over the CIA is on their own. Most likely the United Nations will charge and hold a trial for the Torture Crimes done by the US CIA. Now there are two lawyers who need a job Scooter Libby and Al Gonzales but if a person had a brain don’t hire the convicted felon or an uneducated lawyer like Al.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:10 pmSo far Pelosi, Harmon and Rockefeller were not fully briefed on the issue. Bush must have made this so secret that only Repugs and his dog Barney knew the specifics.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:15 pmThe time to impeach President* Bush is before he attacks Iran, not after. The pretext will be “they’re killin’ our boys,” so a limited strike will occur. Iran will react, and many more of our soldiers will be killed, outraging all Americans and demanding wrath on Iran.
There shall be no talk of impeachment after this point.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:18 pmDana Perino will look like Margaret Thatcher the time the Bush ghouls are finished sucking the life force from her young body.
-GSD
October 7th, 2007 at 7:28 pmJust exactly what will it take to oust this war criminal regime from our government? A Republican congressman says he will support impeachment once Bush has started WWIII. No one can understand how dictators take over a country - apparently it occurs when the people are apathetic and their representation is weak. How appalling to see the United States destroyed by an idiot like Bush.
October 7th, 2007 at 7:56 pmComment by Billy Hill — October 7, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
You got a real president mixed up with your deserter-in-chief, Billy.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:11 pm“Your use of the word “darker†seems inappropriate. You seem to suggest that it is bad to be dark. It is clear that she is lying as is Bush but I don’t think the color of her skin has any bearing on her lies. African Americans and other minorities might find your wording offensive.”
Comment by Probus
I think in this context, Veritas meant her mood was dark (as shown by the look on her face), not her skin color.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:36 pmIt was poorly worded.
Comment by Probus — October 7, 2007 @ 8:40 pm
I didn’t think so. I do think that we limit our freedom of expression by allowing the PC police to frame our choice of words and images, and it seems quite a stretch to pull a racist meaning from that very innocent remark.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:44 pmThats why any number to Gitmos detainees are begging to stay in the island paradise confinement, they don’t want to spend one minute with a Saudi or Pakistani interrogator.
Comment by Billy Hill — October 7, 2007 @ 7:54 pm
Validation, please… otherwise, it’s just nonsense…
However, this we do know…
http://www.guardian.co.uk/ Columnists/ Column/ 0,5673,1270541,00.html
… Under military order No 1, issued by President Bush in November 2001, the president gave himself the right, in defiance of national and international law, to detain indefinitely any non-US citizen anywhere in the world. Many ended up in Guantánamo where at least some of their names were discovered. Others simply vanished. They became in the US euphemism, “ghost prisoners”, an unrecorded host held in secret, their detention denied, hidden from the Red Cross, legal or family access barred, their fate in the hands of unaccountable and unnamed US personnel.
When disappearance became state practice across Latin America in the 70s it aroused revulsion in democratic countries where it is a fundamental tenet of legitimate government that no state actor may detain - or kill - another human being without having to answer to the law. Not only has President Bush discarded that principle, he even brags about it. In his state of the union address in February 2003, he said: “More than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others have met a different fate. Put it this way, they’re no longer a problem to the United States and our friends and allies.”
Extraordinary rendition was codified in the Clinton administration. Under Bush it has been hugely expanded.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:52 pm” and it seems quite a stretch to pull a racist meaning from that very innocent remark.”
Comment by Lefty Patriot
Right on.
October 7th, 2007 at 8:57 pmHow can you tell the folks in the White House are lying…?
Their lips are moving.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:02 pmI See. It’s perfectly clear to me.
It would take Bush attacking Iran, meaning the action would actually have to take place for the republican congressman to vote for impeachment.
Have these people no end to their insanity?
October 7th, 2007 at 10:07 pmThis happens only when Congress members become ‘cheerleaders’ ,and forget their Constitutional responsibilities..
October 7th, 2007 at 10:08 pmDoes anyone still believe Bush’s official story about 911 at this point?? hahahah! It would have to be selective belief at this point.
Comment by Veritas — October 7, 2007 @ 5:42 pm
Yeah, Noam Chomsky (Single Bullet Theorist) and Amy Goodman (Single Bullet Theorist).
October 7th, 2007 at 10:09 pmI put up a new article on exactly what we are facing if we attack Iran, and why this administration is going to do it. “The Line in the Sand”, please read it Veritas, I would like your opinion and insight.
http://willyloman.wordpress.com/
Pelosi needs to be impeached. Once she stated impeachment is “off the table” she tipped her hand. Impeachment is not hers to either hand out or to deny. Impeachment is our guarantee from the founding fathers that this system will not become out of control.
When she said “off the table” she gave the administration a free pass; a “get out of jail” card. She is bought and paid for and she needs to be impeached herself.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:21 pmIm fu(king peach.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:21 pmThere is more than enough to hold hearings; Bush &Co have committed high crimes - lying to congress is a federal offense.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:21 pm(Impeachment is too easy - they must be removed from office and tried in court — of course, that’s why Bush was so eager to appoint his own judges.)
If the press would make more noise about these crimes, the public wouldn’t tolerate this — but the press doesn’t spell it out for the preoccupied public and when no one is paying attention this is allowed to continue.
Congress is not in session this week. When they return, all members must carefully review these latest purposeful calculated lies by Bush, Cheney and others. WE demand the TRUTH.
We demand the impeachment of any and all officials who committed these crimes and covered them up. IMPEACHMENT TIME.
Thanks for Rockefeller, Pelosi, and Harman for your statements. Now you must do the hard part. Open impeachment hearings.
October 7th, 2007 at 10:29 pmI think Oilfieldguy (#30) is correct, but in the unlikely event that impeachment was ever considered, any “unidentified Republican’s” vote against Bush would be offset by ten Democrats’ pro-Bush votes in the name of “Supporting the Troops.”
October 7th, 2007 at 10:36 pmThe Democrats have betrayed the American people as much as Bush and Republicans have.
Comment by Jackie Morgan — October 7, 2007 @ 6:22 pm
Karl Rove will be glad to know that someone besides him can use his tactics to smear ALL Democrats, instead of pointing out WHICH Democrats have joined the Republicans.
Of course, the comment was made to get at Harman (who IS a loser) and
AIPAC (who regularly backs losers for its own purposes).
A direct attack on the two targets, rather than a smear on Democrats, in general, would have been appreciated.
Glad you haven’t reappeared, Jackie.
October 7th, 2007 at 11:34 pmComment by willyloman — October 7, 2007 @ 10:21 pm
In order for impeachment to take place the Speaker would have to break the law. Taking impeachment of Bush off the table is not a crime. As Speaker it is her choice, even if it is one I disagree with.
Comment by Probus — October 7, 2007 @ 11:53 pm
That is troll talk as far as I’m concerned. Your free speech is heard, it is just lame. Same as the “darker” comment.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:05 amHarmon must be naive and gullible.
October 8th, 2007 at 12:13 amHow am I a troll if I’m defending Pelosi?
Because Pelosi is one of them now. I gave her a chance but she’s weak and deserves no respect.
We Are The People - you’re either with us or against us.
Saying nothing and doing nothing in the face of this administration is betrayal. The Blue Dog Democrats are traitors.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:05 amBTW, is there anyone else who keeps thinking I’m seeing Chloris Leachman?
October 8th, 2007 at 1:06 amThanks dday - nice diary.
This type of disinegenuosness needs much more publicity.
October 8th, 2007 at 1:55 amWilly @ 45, you beat me to trying to reframe this issue. Pelosi and Reid need to be removed from their positions of “leadership” and/or recalled by the voters of their own states. Enabling this egregious administration may not be a crime, but it certainly is criminal.
October 8th, 2007 at 11:07 amSo you’re saying that the Criminal Bush Mafia hasn’t been forthright with you? Do tell. I am so surprised.
Just how many people have been kidnapped and tortured under this fascist dictator? Hundreds? Thousands?
And just why does the Supreme Court no take cases from victims of these abuses from other countries? Oh that’s right, National Security. Because if they did then even the Repukian Lemmings would have to admit that they are all criminals.
And the repukes wonder why the rest of the world hates us, or do they wonder at all, they have drank lots of koolaid.
Buck Fush
October 8th, 2007 at 12:51 pmI was @ this town hall. I caught great sound bites of her being asked about MisPrison of Treason. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MrWPVPihyCY
October 17th, 2007 at 3:19 am