By John Byrne / Raw Story
The former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Bob Graham, says that the Central Intelligence Agency told him that they had briefed him on the Bush administration's torture techniques on two dates he was never briefed.
What's more, the now-retired Florida senator told a New York radio host Thursday that the CIA admitted that they'd gotten the dates wrong. The CIA recently released a report detailing the dates that key members of Congress had been briefed about the Bush administration's "enhanced interrogation program," but acknowledged in a letter accompanying the report that they couldn't vouch for its complete accuracy.
Graham's pronouncement is startling in light of claims by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi contesting the accuracy of the CIA report, and may call into question the veracity of the report as a whole.
"When I asked the CIA what dates was I briefed, they gave me four dates, two in April, two in September of '02," Graham said. "On three of the four occasions, when I consulted my schedule and my notes, it was clear that no briefing took place on that date, and the CIA eventually concurred in that. So their record keeping is a little bit suspect.
"I have no recollection during the briefing that I did receive on September 27 of '02 that the issue of waterboarding Zubaydah or other extreme interrogation techniques was discussed," Graham added, referring to one of the Bush administration's al Qaeda detainees. "I think I have a pretty good memory and if something as dramatic as that had been discussed at any level of specificity I would not only have remembered it but would have been motivated to do something about it.
Graham's remarks were first reported by Marcy Wheeler at FireDogLake.
Asked about what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was informed about during her briefing on the subject, Graham said he didn't know. Pelosi, who was briefed on the program in 2002, says she was never told the administration was waterboarding suspects.
"I don't know precisely what she was told because according to the CIA's report they briefed the House and the Senate leadership in separate events approximately three weeks apart," Graham replied.
1 comment:
Miss Graham is doing the best he can to protect and defend the Bush Administration even when he's acting like a complete idiot. If the covert agent has just looked at Graham that would have been enough for Grahman to run and cry. Graham would give information without being asked a question he's be so scared.
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