The most powerful woman on the planet would like you to know just how vested she is in this nation's security

"Of the 40 CIA briefings to Congress reported recently in the press, I was only briefed once, on September 4, 2002, as I have previously stated.

In attempting refute the contention that she did not know that water boarding had been employed on terrorist detainees, Nancy Pelosi, then the ranking Democrat on the Intelligence committee resorts to the “I batted .025 in attending intelligence briefings” defense.

Yep, we’re in good hands.

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Nutroot heartache

Seeking to move beyond what he calls a "a dark and painful chapter in our history," President Barack Obama said Thursday that CIA officials who used harsh interrogation tactics during the Bush administration will not be prosecuted.

...dark and painful chapter in our history? 9/11 - we would consider that "a dark and painful chapter in our history". Then again, he could've been speaking on behalf of the bad guys for whom many, no doubt, experienced some pain in the dark.

The President, though, made it up to the nutroots somewhat by giving up the interrogation playbook.

White House senior adviser David Axelrod says President Barack Obama spent about a month pondering whether to release Bush-era memos about CIA interrogation techniques, and considered it “a weighty decision.”

Links to pdfs of the CIA memos can be linked through Politico link above. You can learn all about the torture techniques we used and some we never did like the infamously brutal "caterpillar torture":

Justice Department lawyers said in a "top secret" memo to the CIA that they could place Abu Zubaydah, one of the highest-ranking members of Al Qaeda, in a cramped confinement box, and introduce insects into the box under the following conditions. An excerpt of the memo, dated Aug. 1, 2002, reads:

"As we understand it, you plan to inform Zubaydah that you are going to place a stinging insect into the box, but you will actually place a harmless insect in the box, such as a caterpillar.

If you do so, to ensure that you are outside the predicate act requirement, you must inform him that the insects will not have a sting that would produce death or severe pain.

If, however, you were to place the insect in the box without informing him that you are doing so, then, in order to not commit a predicate act, you should not affirmatively lead him to believe that any insect is present which has a sting that could produce severe pain or suffering or even cause death. (material redacted with black lines here) so long as you take either of the approaches we have described, the insect’s placement in the box would not constitute a threat of severe physical pain or suffering to a reasonable person in his position."

The tactic ultimately was not used.

You know what's really torture? Reading the legalese that ensures the civil liberties of these bums.

H/T: Sweetness and Light and Instapundit