Be Careful What You Ask For

Nelson Mandela who was imprisoned and undoubtedly tortured on Robben Island, agreed to grant full immunity to the perpetrators of violence who testified at Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Mandela believed that it was more important to get to the truth than to seek vengeance.

This important truth seems to be lost not only on the very spineless President Obama, but also on the left wing liberals, Hollywood elites & Democrats who line up for photo ops with Nelson Mandela.

In what is becoming the hallmark of typical left wing behavior -hypocrisy- they sing Mandela's praises, claiming him as their hero, yet they refuse to follow his example.

It would seem that while President Obama & Speaker Nancy Pelosi (along with their left wing witch-hunting, Bush bashing, Republican hating, liberal lying ilk, from George Soros to MoveOn.Org,) wants the truth........... in reality, they can't HANDLE the truth!

Security Before Politics

In the fall of 2002, while I was chairman of the House intelligence committee, senior members of Congress were briefed on the CIA's "High Value Terrorist Program," including the development of "enhanced interrogation techniques" and what those techniques were. This was not a one-time briefing but an ongoing subject with lots of back and forth between those members and the briefers.

-- The chairs and the ranking minority members of the House and Senate intelligence committees, known as the Gang of Four, were briefed that the CIA was holding and interrogating high-value terrorists.

-- We understood what the CIA was doing.

-- We gave the CIA our bipartisan support.

-- We gave the CIA funding to carry out its activities.

-- On a bipartisan basis, we asked if the CIA needed more support from Congress to carry out its mission against al-Qaeda.

Congress Knew About The Interrogations

It was not necessary to release details of the enhanced interrogation techniques, because members of Congress from both parties have been fully aware of them since the program began in 2002. We believed it was something that had to be done in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks to keep our nation safe. After many long and contentious debates, Congress repeatedly approved and funded this program on a bipartisan basis in both Republican and Democratic Congresses.

Members of Congress calling for an investigation of the enhanced interrogation program should remember that such an investigation can't be a selective review of information, or solely focus on the lawyers who wrote the memos, or the low-level employees who carried out this program.

I have asked Mr. Blair to provide me with a list of the dates, locations and names of all members of Congress who attended briefings on enhanced interrogation techniques.

Since the democrats can't seem to emulate Mandela 's example, then perhaps they should heed this ancient wisdom: Be Careful What You Ask For.