WASHINGTON (AFP) - Democratic US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Friday declared that she stood by her explosive charge that the CIA misled lawmakers in 2002 about interrogation techniques widely seen as torture. I stand by my comments, she said, amid calls from Republicans for her to substantiate her charges, or apologise, or even to step down over her headline-grabbing criticisms of the Central Intelligence Agency. But Pelosi said she was done answering questions about her charge last week that CIA briefers did not disclose in September 2002 that the agency was using the controlled drowning known as waterboarding on terrorism suspects. I have made the statement that Im going make on this. I dont have anything more to say about it, she said, underlining that Democrats will not be distracted by the controversy. Pelosi said that the CIA had acknowledged using waterboarding in a February 2003 briefing that one of her top staff attended.