[NYTr] CIA's Destrouction of Torture Tapes to Get US Court Airing

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

sent by Dave Muller - southnews - Dec 21, 2007

The New York Times - Dec 21, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/washington/21intel.html


House Panel Subpoenas C.I.A. Official Over Destroyed Tapes

By MARK MAZZETTI and STEVEN LEE MYERS

WASHINGTON  The House Intelligence Committee subpoenaed the former 
chief of the Central Intelligence Agencys clandestine service on 
Thursday to testify about his role in the destruction of videotapes 
documenting the interrogation of two suspected operatives of Al Qaeda.

The subpoena for the official, Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., who current and 
former officials say ordered the destruction of the tapes in 2005, came 
after the committees staff spent hours at C.I.A. headquarters poring 
over classified documents related to the matter.

Lawmakers are planning to have Mr. Rodriguez and John A. Rizzo, the 
C.I.A.s top lawyer, testify before the committee in mid-January, the 
first public hearing about the episode since the destruction of the 
tapes was disclosed this month.

President Bush said Thursday that he was confident that a preliminary 
inquiry by the Justice Department and the C.I.A., along with 
Congressional investigations, would end up enabling us to find out what 
exactly happened.

In a news conference, Mr. Bush disputed a suggestion that White House 
officials had been ambiguous about when he learned about the
destruction of the tapes. Echoing earlier comments, Mr. Bush said he
learned about the tapes only on Dec. 6, when Gen. Michael V. Hayden,
the C.I.A. director, briefed him about them. That was the day after The
New York Times notified the C.I.A. that it was planning to publish an
article about the tapes.

Mr. Bush declined to comment about whether he agreed with the decision 
to destroy the tapes, saying, Lets wait and see what the facts are.

Mr. Bushs comments came after reports this week that several top White 
House lawyers were involved in discussions about the tapes between
early 2003 and their destruction in November 2005. The tapes documented 
hundreds of hours of interrogations during 2002 of Abu Zubaydah and Abd 
al Rahim al-Nashiri, the two Qaeda suspects, who were taken into C.I.A. 
custody that year.

Although Mr. Rodriguez announced his retirement from the C.I.A. over
the summer, he will not leave the agency until next month.

Representative Silvestre P. Reyes, chairman of the Intelligence 
Committee, promised in a statement on Thursday that his committees 
investigation would be fair and complete.

We have been told that Mr. Rodriguez would like to tell his story, but 
his counsel has advised us that a subpoena would be necessary, Mr. 
Reyes said, suggesting that Mr. Rodriguez could be seeking immunity in 
exchange for his testimony.

Robert S. Bennett, an attorney for Mr. Rodriguez, declined to comment 
about the subpoena.

Mr. Bush, when asked whether he was concerned that his administration 
once again faced criticism about its handling of terror suspects, 
broadly defended the aggressive interrogation methods.

Were asking people to do hard things, for starters, which is intercept 
and find terrorists, and to spread freedom, he said.

But he appeared to acknowledge the damage these disclosures could do to 
Americas reputation abroad.

I dont want people to get the wrong impression of our country, he 
said, but Im not surprised we get criticized on a variety of fronts.

                              ***

AFP via Google - Dec 20, 2007

CIA tapes row to get US court airing

WASHINGTON, Dec 20, 2007 (AFP) - - A row over the destruction of 
videotapes showing CIA interrogations of terror suspects goes to court 
Friday when the US spy agency may have to show it did not break a 
judge's order.

US District Court Judge Henry Kennedy has summoned lawyers for the CIA 
and those for "war on terror" prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay camp to 
give oral arguments on the issue.

Friday's hearing comes as the controversy has put the administration of 
US President George W. Bush on the defensive amid allegations that the 
tapes contained proof of US torture tactics.

Bush on Thursday refused to comment on the issue at a press conference 
saying he wanted to await the results of an inquiry first, but he has 
repeatedly insisted that the US does not use torture.

The Central Intelligence Agency meanwhile Thursday invited
congressional staff to their headquarters to review relevant documents.

The scandal came to light earlier this month when CIA chief Michael 
Hayden told staff in a letter that in 2005 the agency had destroyed 
tapes of the 2002 interrogations of two Al-Qaeda suspects to protect
CIA staff.

In 2005, Kennedy had ordered that evidence "regarding the torture, 
mistreatment, and abuse of detainees" in the US military base in 
Guantanamo should be preserved.

The tapes reportedly show the suspects undergoing waterboarding, in 
which prisoners are subjected to a controlled process of simulated 
drowning that is widely considered torture.

Now, lawyers for the detainees say the destruction of the videos may be 
obstruction of justice and a court official confirmed to AFP that the 
hearing would take place in open court on Friday at 11:00 am (1600 GMT).

Bush refused to comment on the CIA's decision to destroy the tapes.

"I am going to reserve judgment until I find out the full facts," he 
said, adding he would not offer any opinion on the issue "until these 
inquiries are complete, and the oversight is finished."

Bush also said he had no recollection of learning about the existence
of the recordings until Hayden briefed him about the controversy two
weeks ago.

Pointing to investigations at the CIA, US Justice Department, and 
oversight by Congress, the president said the probes "will end up 
enabling us all to find out what exactly happened."

Asked more broadly though whether charges of mistreatment of prisoners 
hurt the US global image, Bush replied: "We get criticized a lot for a 
variety of reasons.

"We're asking people to do hard things, for starters, which is
intercept and find terrorists and to spread freedom. And there's
isolationist tendencies in this world."

But he added "on the other hand, most people like to come to our 
country. And most people love what America stands for."

The CIA is already smoothing the way for ongoing investigations into
the destruction of the tapes, a spokesman said.

"As Director Hayden said, CIA will cooperate fully with these inquiries 
and will be as forthcoming as possible. It is a priority and we intend 
to move forward on all fronts," CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield told AFP.

An intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 
CIA had already begun to give access to relevant documents and that 
Congressional staff were at CIA headquarters Thursday afternoon, 
reviewing them.

The New York Times this week, citing unnamed administration and 
intelligence officials, said four top White House lawyers took part in 
discussions with the CIA in 2003 and 2005 on whether to keep the
recordings.

"The accounts indicate that the involvement of White House officials in 
the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November 2005
was more extensive than Bush administration officials have
acknowledged," the Times said.


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