Lawmakers gathered in Congress Tuesday for a classified briefing from CIA director Leon Panetta on the raid that killed Osama bin Laden. Though it’s become a defining political split following the death of the terrorist leader, discussions about the role of torture to obtain bin Laden’s location did not make it to the briefing.
“We didn’t talk about that at all,” House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told reporters following the session with Panetta. Pelosi said she had “no idea” whether torture played a part in capturing and killing bin Laden.
Some have used bin Laden’s death to justify the Bush administration’s controversial use of so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” while Democratic intelligence leaders on Capitol Hill have dismissed the argument that bin Laden’s death means torture works.
The torture debate is likely to continue to play out as more details on the events that led to bin Laden’s death are revealed.
But on Tuesday, it seems the members preferred to keep the division out of the classified briefing with Panetta. The subjects that dominated the event, according to TPM reporters and others, were ones that Congress can agree on.
⢠Pakistan: Members wanted to know what the discovery of bin Laden in a well-heeled northern Pakistani town says about America’s supposed ally in the fight against al Qaeda. According to the Wall Street Journal, Panetta didn’t pull any punches when it came to the Pakistani government and bin Laden.
“Either they’re involved or incompetent,” he told lawmakers, according to the paper.
⢠Death Photos After the briefing, Panetta told the Washington Post he thinks some of the photos taken of bin Laden after he was killed will be released, but stressed that the White House “makes the final decision.”
Members are divided on whether or not to release the photos, despite the fact that the momentum seems to be favoring at least some eventual release. Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) told TPM the photos should be released, claiming that public photos of a dead bin Laden are necessary to prevent conspiracy theories taking hold.
But the chair of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA), told the Washington Post‘s Felicia Sonmez that he thinks the White House should “probably not” put out the reportedly gruesome images.
⢠New Details Of bin Laden Capture Politico reported Wednesday morning that Panetta also shared with members some new details of bin Laden’s capture, “in response to a question about why he wasn’t guarded by more security personnel at his relatively luxurious home.”
Bin Laden, Panetta said, “had cash totaling 500 Euros and two telephone numbers sewn into his clothing when he was killed — sure signs that he was prepared to flee his compound at a moment’s notice.”
