Article updated: 2/6/2013 10:44 AM

Brennan, once stung by waterboarding, now opposes

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John Brennan, now President Barack Obama's nominee to be CIA director, withdrew from consideration for the job in 2008 amid criticism over the agency's use of harsh interrogation techniques, like waterboarding, against terrorist suspects. This time, in 2013, he's making it clear he strongly opposes such practices.

Associated Press

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John Brennan, now President Barack Obama's nominee to be CIA director, sat quietly around a conference table at the agency's headquarters in Langley, Va., during briefings about the capture and waterboarding of a key al-Qaida operative. Brennan's silence may have cost him his first chance to lead the spy agency in 2008, and it is likely to come up again this week as Brennan faces his confirmation hearings in Congress to be director of the CIA.