WHAT DID CONGRESS KNOW AND WHEN DID THEY KNOW IT

The Washington Times printed a page 1 above the fold article detailing the fact that Congress was briefed on the enhanced interrogation techniques at least 30 times. While not exactly new news this story blows the cover off the feigned shock that some Democrats have had over these techniques. The story reminds us that if Congress really wanted to kill the program all they had to do was stop funding it!

The CIA briefed top Democrats and Republicans on the congressional intelligence committees more than 30 times about enhanced interrogation techniques, according to intelligence sources who said the lawmakers tacitly approved the techniques that some Democrats in Congress now say should land Bush administration officials in jail. Between 2002 and 2006, the top Republicans and Democrats on the House and Senate intelligence committees "each got complete, benchmark briefings on the program," said one of the intelligence sources who is familiar with the briefings. "If Congress wanted to kill this program, all it had to do was withhold funding," said the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk about the closed-door briefings. Those who were briefed included current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia and Rep. Jane Harman of California, all Democrats, and Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, Sen. Richard C. Shelby of Alabama and Rep. Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, all Republicans. The Democratic and Republican staff directors for both committees also were briefed, according to the intelligence source and to a declassified memo released Wednesday that detailed some of the Senate committee briefings. You can read the entire story here.

Gateway Pundit also has an excellent rundown of this story you can read here.

Congressman Peter Hoekstra wrote an excellent editorial in the Wall St Journal you can read here.

And Dick Cheney lays down the law on Fox's Hannity: