[NYTr] Democrats' fury grows over destroyed CIA tapes

Fri Dec 7 18:00:58 EST 2007

[Gee... we have to wonder what "Democrats' fury" might look like. We
haven't actually seen any of that yet. -NY Transfer]

Reuters via Yahoo - Dec 7, 2007
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071207/pl_nm/security_cia_interrogations_dc

Democrats' fury grows over destroyed CIA tapes

By Randall Mikkelsen and Tabassum Zakaria

Democrats in control of the U.S. Congress charged cover-up and demanded
investigations into the CIA's destruction of videotapes showing
terrorism suspects being subjected to severe interrogation techniques.

The United States has been widely criticized by European allies and
human right groups for methods like "waterboarding" in which prisoners
are made to fear that they are drowning.

President George W. Bush, who has repeatedly said the United States
does not torture, had no recollection of being told about the tapes or
their destruction, the White House said.

The CIA's disclosure that it had made and destroyed the tapes plunged
the spy agency again into the glare of public scrutiny it has been
unable to shake since prewar intelligence on Iraq turned out wrong.

Leading Democrats called for a inquiries by the Justice Department and
Congress and criticized the Central Intelligence Agency for acting
above the law.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, charged a cover-up
reminiscent of the Watergate scandal that drove President Richard Nixon
from office in 1974.

"The past six years, the Bush administration has run roughshod over our
ideals and the rule of law," Kennedy said in a speech on the Senate
floor. "Now, when the new Democratic Congress is demanding answers, the
administration is feverishly covering up its tracks."

CIA Director Michael Hayden told employees in a letter on Thursday that
the videotapes were made in 2002 as part of a secret detention and
interrogation program that began with the arrest of suspected al Qaeda
lieutenant Abu Zubaydah.

The taping was discontinued later that year and the recordings were
destroyed in 2005 as a potential security risk, said Hayden, who was
not at the CIA then. It was feared that if the tapes were leaked, the
lives of interrogators and their families would be in danger, he said.
The spy agency was headed by Porter Goss at that time.

'NO RECOLLECTION'

CIA spokesman George Little said leaders of relevant congressional
committees were told of the tapes, the CIA's plans to destroy them and
that they had been destroyed.

Bush has been a strong defender of the CIA interrogation program,
saying it has produced intelligence that helped capture al Qaeda
members and prevent attacks.

"The program is critical to the safety of the country," White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino said on Friday.

Bush did not recall being told about the interrogation tapes or their
destruction before he was briefed by Hayden on Thursday, she said. "He
has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their
destruction before yesterday."

Assistant Senate Democratic Leader Dick Durbin of Illinois wrote to
Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting an investigation into
whether the CIA violated obstruction-of-justice laws by destroying the
tapes.

"The CIA apparently withheld information about the existence of these
videotapes from official proceedings, including the 9/11 Commission and
a federal court," Durbin said in the letter.

Perino said White House lawyers were helping the CIA gather facts. But
she said if Mukasey decided to open an investigation, "of course the
White House would support that."

Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd said the agency was reviewing
Durbin's letter but had no immediate comment.

Rep. Jane Harman, senior Democrat on the House of Representatives
Intelligence committee at the time, said she had asked the CIA's top
lawyer in February 2003 not to destroy any recordings after being
briefed on the interrogations.

"The briefing raised a number of serious concerns and led me to send a
letter to the General Counsel. Both the briefing and my letter are
classified so I cannot reveal specifics, but I did caution against
destruction of any videotapes," said Harman of California.

"This matter must be promptly and fully investigated," she said.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Ferraro and Matt Spetalnick; Editing by
Patricia Wilson and Jackie Frank)