I caught this on C-SPAN last night to my alarm. The words of Ted Poe, Republican delegate from the Texas Second District to the United States' House of Representatives, are clear enough. A morning check of Google News suggests the media so far haven't noticed.
So... submitted with minimal commentary on my part to my seldom-used Kos Diary.
For those who want it, the video may be seen here or so. (CSPAN's on-line player is quirky enough that I had trouble finding it last night.) Transcript and particular emphasis on the one line is my work; apologies for any mistakes.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE PRO TEM: To what purpose does the Gentleman from Texas rise?
TED POE (R-TX): Request permission to address the house for one minute.
SPEAKER: Without objection.
POE: Mister Speaker, what do six terrorist attacks, Gitmo, dead Americans, and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed also known as KSM have in common? Waterboarding. Last week several top secret security papers were released to the public. We learned from these documents that waterboarding is apparently saving American lives. After being waterboarded numerous times at Gitmo, KSM, the killer responsible for planning 9/11, started talking. He told the CIA about plans to hijack an airplane, and crash it into a skyscraper in Los Angeles and kill Americans. He disclosed the seventeen member terrorist cell charged with executing that plan. He also exposed plans of another terrorist cell in New York plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. The enhanced interrogation encouraged KSM to disclose information by naming the ringleaders of four other terrorist attacks. Americans are alive because this individual was doused in water. Terrorists are not victims. The only victims are the thousands of people who have died at the hands of these outlaws. The CIA interrogators have saved American lives by baptizing these criminals in water, and that's just the way it is. I yield back.
Even by the usual standards of mixing religion and politics, this seems bad from either vantage.