Democrats sneak attack on the CIA fails

While the nation was focused on the health care summit yesterday, the Democrats in the House of Representatives tried to launch a secret attack on our nation's intelligence officers.  John Hinderaker at Power Line explains:

While our attention was elsewhere, the Democratic Party launched a disgraceful sneak attack against our intelligence professionals. The Democrats attempted to subject anyone who interrogates a terrorist in a less than gentle manner--for example, by "exploiting the phobias of the individual," which refers to the notorious caterpillar in the cell--to 15 years' imprisonment. As usual, Andy McCarthy blows the whistle on the Democrats' perfidy:

[T]his shows how politicized law-enforcement has become under the Obama Democrats. They could have criminalized waterboarding at any time since Jan. 20, 2009. But they waited until now. Why? Because if they had tried to do it before now, it would have been a tacit admission that waterboarding was not illegal when the Bush CIA was using it. That would have harmed the politicized witch-hunt against John Yoo and Jay Bybee, a key component of which was the assumption that waterboarding and the other tactics they authorizied were illegal. Only now, when that witch-hunt has collapsed, have the Democrats moved to criminalize these tactics. It is transparently partisan.

The good news is that the Democrats' effort failed, perhaps because McCarthy blew the whistle. Congressman Peter Hoekstra says:

That Democrats would try to bury this provision deep in the bill, late at night, when they thought everyone's attention would be focused on the health care summit is a testament to the shameful nature of what they were attempting.

Republicans brought this to the attention of the American people, who were rightly outraged that Democrats would try to target those we ask to serve in harm's way and with a unified push we were successful in getting them to pull the bill.

The bill was inserted by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY).  If you watched the health care summit, you may remember that Slaughter was the one who told the story about a woman who had to wear her dead sister's teeth.  From Politico:

House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter attached the provision to the bill Wednesday over the objections of other House leaders, sources said Thursday night. Democrats tried to use a unanimous consent agreement to remove the amendment, Democratic sources said, but Republicans refused to agree and leaders had to pull the bill moments before its scheduled vote. The bill would have failed if the amendment had been included, sources said.

From Fox News:

One intelligence source described the debate as bizarre.

"You've really got to wonder what's going on here. The CIA no longer has a detention and interrogation program. That ended in January 2009 by executive order. It's over, so the need for this proposal is your classic head-scratcher," the source said.

The Rules Committee voted late Thursday to remove the amendment, and the bill will be voted on sometime Friday.