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Pelosi Statement on Senate Intelligence Committee Report on CIA Interrogation Practices

December 9, 2014

Contact: Drew Hammill, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement regarding the declassified report by the Senate Intelligence Committee on the interrogation practices of the Central Intelligence Agency during the Bush Administration:

"CIA is charged with a difficult duty, to defend our country and confront terrorism around the world. Every day, men and women of the Intelligence Community guard our nation with honor and ability, often at great personal hazard to themselves. The American people are forever grateful for their service and bravery.

"We are blessed to live in a nation defined by our dedication to freedom, justice and democracy, and we must always uphold those values. We are stronger as a nation when we confront our failings forthrightly and frankly.

"The Senate Intelligence Committee's report on CIA's Detentions and Interrogation program under the Bush Administration – assembled and released thanks to the courageous leadership of Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein – provides an authoritative and deeply disturbing look at a particularly dark part of our recent history.

"As the report documents at length, high-level CIA officials and program managers repeatedly failed to provide an accurate and complete picture of CIA's detention and interrogation activities to the Department of Justice, the Secretary of State, other senior administration officials, Congress and the American people. Instead, critical information was routinely withheld from the representatives of our democracy – even from President Bush himself.

"We must not shy from our past but confront and learn from it. I commend Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein for her bravery in exposing these shameful truths to the disinfecting light of history. Thankfully, under President Obama, our nation has put an end to this dark chapter."

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