Spencer Ackerman of TPM Muckraker on an interview with SWJ Blogger Malcolm Nance.
... don't expect him to suffer in silence if his credibility is attacked during testimony to a House panel tomorrow about his personal experiences with waterboarding.
"God forbid if there's even the slightest hint about my credentials," Nance says over tea in a Washington coffee shop. "You will see a spectacle on C-Span. I'll impugn [my attacker's] credibility in public. Let's see him give 20 years in the military, give up his family life, and then he can come talk. If not, shut the hell up."
Nance has become newly controversial for writing on the counterinsurgency / counterterrorism blog Small Wars Journal about his experiences teaching waterboarding for the Navy's Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape (SERE) program...
Since he wrote the post, however, a number of comments have appeared on conservative blogs questioning Nance's military service record. (Small Wars Journal had to delete a number of particularly ad hominem comments.) Nance doesn't want to dignify the attacks -- "it's vet-versus-vet warfare," he laments. But he says he heard from a staffer for the Democratic majority on the committee that a Republican aide has been "questioning my credentials" to members in preparation for the hearing. In response, Nance sent the committee "17 years' worth of evaluations" from the Navy and told staffers how to find more material if needed...
Nance will be appearing before the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, Thursday 8 November at the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is scheduled to start at 1000. We will post updates to include CSPAN coverage here as it becomes available.
The Subcommittee has jurisdiction over constitutional amendments, constitutional rights, federal civil rights, ethics in government, other appropriate matters as referred by the Chairman, and relevant oversight. Members are:
Hon. Jerrold Nadler (Dem) New York, 8th (Chairman)Hon. Trent Franks (Rep) Arizona, 2nd (Ranking Member)
Hon. Artur Davis (Dem) Alabama , 7th
Hon. Mike Pence (Rep) Indiana, 6th
Hon. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Dem) Florida, 20th
Hon. Darrell E. Issa (Rep) California, 49th
Hon. Keith Ellison (Dem) Minnesota, 5th
Hon. Steve King (Rep) Iowa, 5th
Hon. John Conyers, Jr. (Dem) Michigan, 14th
Hon. Jim Jordan (Rep) Ohio, 4th
Hon. Robert C. Scott (Dem) Virginia, 3rd
Hon. Melvin L. Watt (Dem) North Carolina, 12th
Hon. Steve Cohen (Dem) Tennessee, 9th