Did I also hear that Rockefeller filed a protest or objection letter on something? Was his on torture or on the surveillance or both? Does anyone remember?
Answered my own question in part. Rockefeller at least questioned the surveillance program.
http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/12/senator_rockefe.phpI don't know about the torture. They may have believed that Congress had done all it needed to do or could do to prohibit torture:
Congress has prohibited cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment of terror suspects. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said several extreme interrogation techniques, including waterboarding, are specifically outlawed.
"As some may recall, there was at the time a debate over the way in which the administration was likely to interpret these prohibitions," McCain said in a statement. McCain added that he was "personally assured by administration officials that at least one of the techniques allegedly used in the past, waterboarding, was prohibited under the new law."
October 5, 2007
http://cornellsun.com/node/25047Looks like the Democrats passed a law to make sure the torture stopped when they got some power in Congress. I'm not sure what else they could have done other than write protest letters for the record (which Cheney would have dismissed as CYA letters).
Here is some of the text of Rockefeller's letter on the FISA violations:
July 17, 2003
Dear Mr. Vice President,
I am writing to reiterate my concern regarding the sensitive intelligence issues we discussed today with the DCI, DIRNSA, and Chairman Roberts and our House Intelligence Committee counterparts.
Clearly the activities we discussed raise profound oversight issues. As you know, I am neither a technician or an attorney. Given the security restrictions associated with this information, and my inability to consult staff or counsel on my own, I feel unable to fully evaluate, much less endorse these activities.
As I reflected on the meeting today, and the future we face, John Poindexter's TIA project sprung to mind, exacerbating my concern regarding the direction the Administration is moving with regard to security, technology, and surveillance.
Without more information and the ability to draw on any independent legal or technical expertise, I simply cannot satisfy lingering concerns raised by the briefing we received.
http://www.democrats.org/a/2005/12/senator_rockefe.phpI suspect that the Democrats' hands were tied. What could they have done without being accused of leaking classified information. They could have put something into the record, but they would have been punished by the vindictive Republicans had they done it.
Writing letters for the file was about their only recourse. But, of course, we have no idea and there is no record regarding just what they were told about the torture program.
This is a difficult he said, she said issue.
In such situations, I always ask who has the most motive to lie. Certainly here it is the members of the Bush administration and those who were involved in the torture. They would gain by implicating Pelosi, Rockefeller, etc. and shifting blame onto them. There is probably some blame due for all of those who knew about the torture, but most of the blame must fall on those who directly authorized it -- and they have the most to gain from lying about what they told Pelosi, Rockefeller and other Democrats. They may be hoping that by suggesting that Pelosi and Rockefeller are implicated in the scheme, they (the Bush administration officials) will not have to face charges.
It would be helpful if Pelosi and Rockefeller made some note in a diary or something on this. I don't suppose that they did even that. The statements made to them about the torture may have been made with so little fanfare that they really did not understand what they were being told. After all, the Bush administration and the CIA were and are masters of deception.
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