[Updated below]

Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002. Including several Democrats, including current Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

With one known exception, no formal objections were raised by the lawmakers briefed about the harsh methods during the two years in which waterboarding was employed, from 2002 to 2003, said Democrats and Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter. The lawmakers who held oversight roles during the period included Pelosi and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.) and Sens. Bob Graham (D-Fla.) and John D. Rockefeller IV (D-W.Va.), as well as Rep. Porter J. Goss (R-Fla.) and Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan).

Individual lawmakers’ recollections of the early briefings varied dramatically, but officials present during the meetings described the reaction as mostly quiet acquiescence, if not outright support. “Among those being briefed, there was a pretty full understanding of what the CIA was doing,” said Goss, who chaired the House intelligence committee from 1997 to 2004 and then served as CIA director from 2004 to 2006. “And the reaction in the room was not just approval, but encouragement.”

Congressional officials say the groups’ ability to challenge the practices was hampered by strict rules of secrecy that prohibited them from being able to take notes or consult legal experts or members of their own staffs. And while various officials have described the briefings as detailed and graphic, it is unclear precisely what members were told about waterboarding and how it is conducted. Several officials familiar with the briefings also recalled that the meetings were marked by an atmosphere of deep concern about the possibility of an imminent terrorist attack.

“In fairness, the environment was different then because we were closer to Sept. 11 and people were still in a panic,” said one U.S. official present during the early briefings. “But there was no objecting, no hand-wringing. The attitude was, ‘We don’t care what you do to those guys as long as you get the information you need to protect the American people.’”

Individual lawmakers don’t recall being briefed about waterboarding, or just won’t comment. Efforts to challenge the practice was hampered by strict secrecy rules, because needless to say, keeping official torture secret is more important than stopping official torture. Right? Maybe they weren’t even really told what waterboarding is or how it’s conducted. Well, you know, it’s not exactly an obscure technique, at least not if you know how to use Google. Wikipedia says:

Waterboarding is a torture technique that simulates drowning in a controlled environment. It consists of immobilizing an individual on his or her back, with the head inclined downward, and pouring water over the face to force the inhalation of water into the lungs. Waterboarding has been used to obtain information, coerce confessions, punish, and intimidate. In contrast to merely submerging the head, waterboarding elicits the gag reflex, and can make the subject believe death is imminent. Waterboarding’s use as a method of torture or means to support interrogation is based on its ability to cause extreme mental distress while possibly creating no lasting physical damage to the subject. The psychological effects on victims of waterboarding can last long after the procedure. Although waterboarding in cases can leave no lasting physical damage, it carries the real risks of extreme pain, damage to the lungs, brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, injuries as a result of struggling against restraints (including broken bones), and even death.

The Wikipedia article also notes that proponents of the technique like to point out how it carries little risk of long-term physical damage, which, if you inspect that description there, is false. Also, if you find yourself arguing that some “enhanced interrogation method” is not torture because it causes no long-term physical damage, you are evil. Yes, you are. Also, if you find yourself surprised that Nancy Pelosi and her Democrat friends knew about and approved of CIA torture, you are ignorant and quite possibly very stupid.

Update: But I should say there’s nothing shameful about ignorance, as long as you seek to learn what you can.

Waterboarding is torture. If you think it’s OK to use waterboarding on any human, you are evil.

Ignoring for a moment the fact that the President of the United States is effectively above the law and can therefore decide that anything is legal if he wants, waterboarding is illegal under United States law.

Waterboarding should be opposed not because it’s illegal but because it’s evil.

Agents of the United States government have used and are probably still using waterboarding. Anybody who claims to be surprised by that fact is ignorant, stupid, or a liar.

We have to keep telling ourselves what’s true. We have to keep reminding each other as long as we can, so we don’t forget what’s true and go insane.

Waterboarding is torture. The United States tortures. The United States is not basically a force for good in this world. The Democratic party is not a force for good. If you are an opponent of torture, the Democratic party is not your ally. Remember that.