New row muddies US 'torture' debate

Published: June 06, 2009

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A row erupted Friday as Democrats accused Republican rivals of revealing secret
information on interrogation tactics unveiled during a closed-door Congress debate, a US daily said.
Lawmakers gathered Thursday at a closed hearing of the intelligence committee to discuss CIA methods
employed in the Bush-era “war on terror” launched in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, The Hill daily
said.
Republicans “members on the intelligence committee on Thursday told The Hill in on-the-record interviews that
they were informed that the controversial methods have led to information that prevented terrorist attacks,” the
congressional daily said.
Republicans accused the Democrats of trying to bury the truth that such interrogations work. But Democratic
lawmakers hit out that their Republican colleagues had broken Congress rules by publicly discussing the
contents of the debate.
It marked the latest twist in a row over who knew about the controversial tactics, which critics have alleged
amounted to torture and which supporters say extracted vital information from terror suspects.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has been under fire after she accused the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of
deliberately misleading her in 2002 about the use of tough interrogations.
Republicans countered that she knew all along about the methods being used, such as simulated drowning
known as “waterboarding,” and chose not to speak out. “The ball’s in the speaker’s court. I think she needs to
bring forward evidence to back up her claim and turn that over to Justice Dept,” said Republican House minority
leader John Boehner.
Republicans said the information shared with the committee showed such methods had elicited information,
which in some cases prevented attacks.
“Democrats weren’t sure what they were going to get,” Representative Pete Hoekstra, the ranking Republican
on the Intelligence panel, told The Hill, referring to the merits of using enhanced interrogation techniques.
“Now that they know what they’ve got, they don’t want to talk about it.”
President Barack Obama has banned the use of enhanced interrogation methods, saying in some instances
they amounted to torture.
But former vice president Dick Cheney has staunchly defended such techniques saying they had helped to save
American lives.