No Immunity Deal
Published: January 11, 2008
We suppose we shouldn’t be surprised. Yet another player in the Bush administration’s break-all-the-rules war against terrorism is trying to evade accountability.
Jose A. Rodriguez Jr. was head of the Central Intelligence Agency’s clandestine operations in November 2005 when he ordered the destruction of videotapes of the harsh interrogation of prisoners — including, it is believed, the technique of simulated drowning — at one of the secret foreign jails that President Bush had the C.I.A. set up after Sept. 11, 2001.
Mr. Rodriguez ordered the tapes destroyed after consulting with two agency lawyers and after an extensive debate within the Bush administration that involved top officials at the White House. The decision to destroy them appears to be a cynical attempt to shield interrogators and their bosses from public and legal scrutiny over what may well have been an illegal act: torture.
He has now been summoned to Congress to testify about his decision at a closed hearing on Wednesday. John A. Rizzo, the C.I.A.’s acting general counsel, has agreed to testify, but The Times reported that Mr. Rodriguez’s attorney informed the House Intelligence Committee that his client would not testify unless he was granted immunity. The Justice Department is also investigating the destruction of the tapes, and Mr. Rodriguez does not want his testimony used against him.
We hope the House resists this request. If Mr. Rodriguez refuses to appear, he should be cited for contempt and punished appropriately. It would be his right to exercise his Fifth Amendment protections. But he should not be allowed to testify under conditions that would make it impossible to finish a thorough criminal investigation and bring charges against him or others if they prove to be justified.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/11/opinion/11fri2.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
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