The left is having a little fit over the news that the CIA destroyed tapes of interrogations (per their S.O.P) with the more moronic of them alleging that it was because they tortured the terrorists. First the story:
“WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 — The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about the C.I.A’s secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.
The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terror suspects — including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in C.I.A. custody — to severe interrogation techniques. They were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy, several officials said.
The C.I.A. said today that the decision to destroy the tapes had been made “within the C.I.A. itself,” and they were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value. The agency was headed at the time by Porter J. Goss. Through a spokeswoman, Mr. Goss declined this afternoon to comment on the destruction of the tapes.
The official spokesman said it was done because they held no intelligence value, and if the tapes were to get out (which is more then likely seeing as how the CIA leaks like a sieve) it could jeopardize the agents lives. You would think the left could understand that since they were aghast at the danger the Plame leak put her under. But big shocker….they ain’t so worried about the CIA agents now:
These tapes were destroyed to protect the people who didn’t protect any sense of decency in interrogations.
There is no internal reason, except saving your own ass from prosecution. And keeping the tapes out of court. The decision on the lowest techniques was made at the highest levels. And now we will witness lowdown denials as to who high up ordered the tapes destroyed. “What matters here is that it was done in line with the law,” he said. He is Michael Hayden. And he talks not just about the destruction of the tapes. But about the techniques used too. We do not torture is all you need to know. But this all tortures credibility in a week where it has previously been flayed and fileted.
There is no internal reason. But there may be an infernal reason. Because if there were tapes of waterboarding, all the waterboarding in the world shouldn’t keep torturers from burning in hell. We do not torture is all you need to know.
Poor fella, I think he broke a blood vessel pounding the keys during that post.
Of course after the official spokesman the NYT’s quotes anonymous sources as saying they were destroyed because of “possible legal jeopardy.” Which is hogwash. Waterboarding is not illegal, and the CIA viewed the tapes prior to destruction and saw nothing illegal. Not that the left will believe them. They take the IC’s word as
gospel when it jives with their worldview, ie the NIE, but when it
delves into areas they don’t agree with, well then the IC is full of
it. Funny how that works huh?
Another compelling reason for the destruction of the tapes was the fact that after the leak of the “panties on the Iraqi’s head” photo’s caused such an uproar in the Muslim community the CIA was worried that pictures of interrogations, which I am sure is not pretty…and shouldn’t be, would be leaked and create further turmoil in the Muslim world:
A former intelligence official who was briefed on the issue said the
videotaping was ordered as a way of assuring “quality control” at
remote sites following reports of unauthorized interrogation
techniques. He said the tapes, along with still photographs of
interrogations, were destroyed after photographs of abuse of prisoners
at Abu Ghraib became public in May 2004 and C.I.A. officers became
concerned about a possible leak of the videos and photos.He said the worries about the impact a leak of the tapes might have in the Muslim world were real.
It has been widely reported that Mr. Zubaydah was subjected to
several tough physical tactics, including waterboarding, which involves
near-suffocation. But C.I.A. officers judged that the release of photos
or videos would nonetheless provoke a strong reaction.
And you know damn well another rogue agent ala Valerie Plame would leak the thing if they could get their hands on it.
Lastly, the left is upset that the tapes were supposedly asked for and they were lied to:
The recordings were not provided to a federal court hearing the case of
the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui or to the Sept. 11 commission,
which had made formal requests to the C.I.A. for transcripts and any
other documentary evidence taken from interrogations of agency
prisoners.C.I.A. lawyers told federal prosecutors in 2003 and 2005, who
relayed the information to a federal court in the Moussaoui case, that
the C.I.A. did not possess recordings of interrogations sought by the
judge in the case. It was unclear whether the judge had explicitly
sought the videotape depicting the interrogation of Mr. Zubaydah.
It was unclear? Meaning the judge didn’t ask for the specific tapes and that being the case why would a intelligence agency offer up information and intelligence it didn’t have to? There are big security concerns when it comes to national intelligence and if anyone is that foolhardy to believe the CIA would just open up the cupboard and say “have at it!” they are quite naive.
But don’t hold you breath that the left will buy any of this, and neither should anyone care if they do. They will see conspiracies and evil conglomerates around every corner so they should be ignored.
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First the tapes on showed severe interrogation techniques NOT torture even though some still want to call it that.
Second Hayden said all that was done was legal after reviewing all the documentation from the time of destruction so that would eliminate real torture
Third legal methods would still set off the easily offended
Fourth the judge may have asked only for interrogations which had relevance to Mr Moussaoui and if he was not mentioned on the tapes they could be excluded.
I am finding it more and more difficult to find sympathy for the terrorists as I continue to read about the atrocities they commit. Instead the pictures that come to my mind are those of Americans burning to death or jumping to their death when the WTC was destroyed, then terrorists jumping for joy in the streets.
The CIA says the tapes were destroyed late in 2005, a year marked by increasing pressure from defense attorneys to obtain videotapes of detainee interrogations. The scandal over harsh treatment of detainees at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq had focused public attention on interrogation techniques.
Beginning in 2003, attorneys for al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui began seeking videotapes of interrogations they believed might help them show their client wasn’t a part of the 9/11 attacks. These requests heated up in 2005 as the defense slowly learned the identities of more detainees in U.S. custody.
In May 2005, U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered the government to disclose whether interrogations were recorded. The government objected to that order, and the judge modified it on Nov. 3, 2005, to ask for confirmation of whether the government “has video or audio tapes of these interrogations” and then named specific ones. Eleven days later, the government denied it had video or audio tapes of those specific interrogations.
Last month, the CIA admitted to Brinkema and a circuit judge that it had failed to hand over tapes of enemy combatant witnesses. Those interrogations were not part of the CIA’s detention program and were not conducted or recorded by the agency, the agency said.
“The CIA did not say to the court in its original filing that it had no terrorist tapes at all. It would be wrong to assert that,” CIA spokesman George Little said.
The 9/11 Commission referenced the 2002 interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Binalshibh multiple times throughout its report, but cited written documents and audiotapes only.
CIA Spokesman Mark Mansfield told FOX News the tapes were not destroyed while the 9/11 Commission was active so that they would be avilable if ever requested for its report.
“The agency went to great lengths to meet the requests of the 9/11 Commission,” Mansfield told FOX News. “As Director Hayden pointed out in his statement, the tapes were destroyed only when it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative, or judicial inquiries.”
Another hard hit for the ultra right. It just keeps looking worse for them.
And when Fred seems to be their best hope it doesn’t look good for their future.
Trying to turn this into “They don’t care so much about CIA agents now” is brain-damaging in its obtuseness. Hey – be sure to use this tack in the future. If Bush is impeached, bring up Clinton and say “They don’t care so much about presidents now.” It’s freaking brilliant.
We know we have been lied to, we know they’re still doing it, let’s get rid of these animals.
If the CIA van not keep one video tape safe I think we should seriously start thinking about firing a whole lot of people.