Source: CIA Tapes Destroyed To Avoid Prosecution( tapes evidence US Gov illegally auth torture)

[maddezmom]

Source: CBS

WASHINGTON (CBS News) ― A well informed source tells CBS News the videotapes of U.S. interrogations of two high level al Qaeda operatives were destroyed to protect CIA officers from criminal prosecution, reports CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

A day after CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden told agency employees the tapes were destroyed in 2005, members of Congress, human rights groups and lawyers for accused terrorists said the tapes may have been key evidence that the U.S. government had illegally authorized torture.

~snip~

At least one White House official, then-White House Counsel Harriet Miers, knew about the CIA's planned destruction of videotapes in 2005 that documented the interrogation of two al Qaeda operatives, ABC news reported Friday. Three officials told ABC News that Miers urged the CIA not to destroy the tapes. White House officials declined to comment on the report.

The spy agency destroyed the tapes in November 2005, at a time when human rights groups and lawyers for detainees were clamoring for information about the agency's secret detention and interrogation program, and Congress and U.S. courts were debating where "enhanced interrogation" crossed the line into torture.

Also at that time, the Senate Intelligence Committee was asking whether the videotapes showed CIA interrogators were complying with interrogation guidelines. The CIA refused twice in 2005 to provide the committee with its general counsel's report on the tapes, according to the committee's Democratic chairman, Sen. Jay Rockefeller.



Read more: http://wcco.com/national/cia.videotapes.destroyed.2.606700.html

---

and then this from kpete in GD:

It Was NOT The Fact That He Was Tortured That Needed Covering Up-IT WAS WHAT HE SAID!
Edited on Fri Dec-07-07 10:27 PM by kpete
It's Not Torture They're Covering Up, It's the Results
by The Baculum King
Fri Dec 07, 2007 at 03:41:17 PM PST

The automatic assumption about the CIA's destruction of the interrogation tapes of Abu Zubaydah is that the tapes exposed methods everyone would agree amounted to torture, and they were destroyed to prevent that proof being exposed. It's quite likely that what was being covered up was the results of that torture.

Gerald Posner has a piece at HuffPo drawing from his 2003 book that is worth a read:

more: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2428031&mesg_id=2428031

[nradisic]

1. Investigate, Prosecute & Jail!

Total scum.

[jimshoes]

2. Isn't about time Congressman Waxman had

ms. myers in for a little chit chat among a host of others?

[aquart]

3. No wonder the WH didn't want her talking to Congress.

[calimary]

30. I was just thinking that same thing.

Well how 'bout that.

The plot thickens.

[OnyxCollie]

4. Wasn't Leahy supposed to go forward with criminal contempt against Miers

and Bolton this week? I haven't heard anything, though. (Surprise, surprise.)

[maddezmom]

5. Specter blocked the vote, it goes forward next week

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3089867

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=2416936

[Warren Stupidity]

8. Wanna bet?

Nothing goes forward. Everything spins around the toilet that is Washington and then disappears.

[OnyxCollie]

11. Specter, you worthless POS. nt

[fascisthunter]

25. Mr. Sphecter, the Magic Bullet Theory Man

who helped cover-up President Kennedy's assassination.

[lovuian]

6. Was the Torture was worth it Bush

cause this is true evil

[Warren Stupidity]

7. That is a felony. nt

[Bonhomme Richard]

9. I'm convinced the only reason Miers told them............

not to destroy the tapes was because, in her mind, this neocon bunch never loses and she just couldn't envision that the Dems would take over congress in 2006. She probably figured that the puppet repug congress would kill any investigation as long as there wasn't a direct violation of law.
Her advice had nothing to do with right or wrong. Remember that this bunch truly believe that they create reality.

[L. Coyote]

29. "Remember that this bunch truly believe that they create reality." Because, they still DO!

Don't kid yourself. They still control the dialogue. It is called the Bully Pulpit for very good reason!

[ginnyinWI]

10. And remember: this was directed straight from the top.

It wasn't Cheney or any of the underlings. It was Bush, Bush, Bush himself directing torture. Regardless of the play-dumb act. It was Bush. http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0603.ackerman.html

"The effects manifested quickly. Risen charges that Tenet caved to Bush entirely on the torture of al-Qaeda detainees. After the 2002 capture of Abu Zubaydah, a bin Laden deputy, failed to yield much information due to his drowsiness from medical treatment, Bush allegedly told Tenet, "Who authorized putting him on pain medication?" Not only did Tenet get the message--brutality while questioning an enemy prisoner was no problem--but Tenet also never sought explicit White House approval for permissible interrogation techniques, contributing to what Risen speculates is an effort by senior officials "to insulate Bush and give him deniability" on torture. CIA operatives watched apprehensively, remembering the long history of presidents who authorize covert actions only to leave low-level field agents holding the bag when scandals surface."

[Venus Dog]

13. Was CIA outsourcing their "enhanced interrogation" at this time?

This all could implicate one or more of those infamous torture "contractors"...this is getting very interesting, especially with the Saudi/Paki/911 connection.

It's all coming full circle. Could this be the Perfect Storm? Or perhaps we will hit the Trifecta next week...NIE/Destroyed Torture Tape/X Factor

:popcorn:

[Name removed]

15. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Vinca]

12. If Miers knew torture was taking place, Shrub and Darth knew.

There is no excuse not to begin impeachment proceedings immediately.

[Blue_Roses]

17. Exactly! There is NO WAY Harriet could have known and Bush

and Cheney didn't. Hell, Cheney probably laughed.

[ginnyinWI]

26. well don't give * a pass either.

This was the guy who put cigarettes out on his frat mates. He loves it.

[Ignis]

23. And it certainly sheds light on why she's avoiding Congress.

Can you imagine what this woman might reveal (or reveal by omission or taking the 5th) under oath?

Time to arrest her, Leahy! Send out the troops.

[MNDemNY]

14. It's bad for the administration, but certainly does not rise to the level of a blow job.

[classysassy]

16. When

are the democrats going to get off their greedy asses and investigate those republican criminals?,we gave you our vote,now give us some justice.

[TwilightGardener]

18. Rockefeller's going to be on Face the Nation tomorrow--I'd like to see

what he has to say about this.

[Zueda]

19. That is a lie...

The destruction of the tapes was not due to torture but rather what the suspects were saying.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2007/12/7/183319/766/707/419308

[JustDavid]

28. Oh shit, not again.....

[jberryhill]

20. It's time for someone to go to jail. /nt

[grasswire]

21. where's the proof of Miers' advice?

I will believe it when I see the evidence and it is examined forensically. I CAN believe she did so to CYA after the fact.

OR...........

The WH is setting up the CIA.

[Hulk]

22. This is not news. This is what they do. Our 'fearless leader, and his monkey'....

We are as deep into the control of this corrupt and evil government as the German people were in the 1930's and 40's. There is nothing different, except maybe the purposes involved...albeit slightly different at the most.

Wake up America!! We have our Adolf, and we have our Goering. Open you blind eyes and see what is there in front of you. Get your mind off your BMW ambitions and your busy ass life. This country is in some real danger, and all we do is "go shopping". Such sheep!

[fascisthunter]

24. Yet, No Effort to Impeach Because of Our BS Leadership

I want an asterisk next to the names of those that enabled and protected Bush from accountability, for history to judge them accordingly.

[McCamy Taylor]

27. 2 yr old story of CIA crime broken by NYT now to discredit the NIE so we can go to war with Iran,

The mainstream media and the Republicans will not bother with the real crime which is that Cheney made the CIA torture for him in illegal prisons. It will focus only on the obstruction of justice, labeling the US intelligence community "rogue" , "criminal" , "out of control", "above the law." Demands will come from both sides of the aisle to rein it in. Torture will be all the CIAs idea by the time the usual media suspects are finished with the story and they will have conveniently forgotten that two years ago Cheney was trying to exempt the CIA from complying with rules against torture.

The result will be that Iran, which was declared officially off the table early this week, will be back on the table by early January, with the Bush administration and Israel and the NYT (which , surprise of surprises is the paper that broke this story) beating the drum to war with Iran. The GOP will have their war and terra issue back for the 2008 GOP campaign, and all the talk of investigating why W. and Cheney lied to us about Iran's nuclear threat will be forgotten, since we will all "know" that the NIE is nothing but the lies of a bunch of criminals.

[Cheney Killed Bambi]

31. well, duh!