Will Ex-CIA Name Names In Tape Scandal?
A former CIA official is expected to seek immunity when testifying before a House committee investigating the destruction of videotapes recording CIA interrogation sessions, reportedly to implicate the White House in the tapes' destruction, according to intelligence sources quoted in a London newspaper.
The House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena Thursday to Jose Rodriguez, a former CIA official who oversaw the interrogation of terrorism suspects, and who allegedly ordered the destruction of interrogation videotapes.
According to the Times of London, Rodriguez will seek immunity from prosecution before testifying before the committee on January 15.
It was learned earlier this month that the CIA had recorded hundreds of hours of interrogations of at least two terrorism suspects, allegedly incorporating torture techniques, and then destroyed the tapes in 2005. The CIA hid the existence of the tapes from judges, congressional overseers, and the 9/11 Commission investigating the government's intelligence activities.
This week a U.S. judge questioned whether the CIA's destruction of the tapes violated a court order issued in 2005 to preserve any information relating to the interrogation of terrorism suspects at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay. CIA lawyers responded that the tapes were not subject to that order because, even though Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri have been detained at Guantanamo, their interrogations were conducted elsewhere.
A former CIA officer has spoken publicly that Zubaydah was waterboarded (a form of torture that simulates drowning). He allegedly "broke" and revealed information, although there has been much dispute as to the veracity of that information.
The House investigation comes on the heels of President Bush's comments that he did not "recall" the existence of the torture tapes until he was briefed on the matter by CIA director Michael Hayden about two weeks ago, and a subsequent New York Times report that at least four White House officials discussed the tapes at least two years ago.
The four staffers cited were Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general who served as White House counsel until early 2005; David Addington, a key aide to Vice President Dick Cheney; John Bellinger III, who until January 2005 was the senior lawyer at the National Security Council; and Harriet Miers, who succeeded Gonzales as White House counsel.
In an interview with the London Times, former CIA counterterrorism head Vincent Cannistraro said it was impossible for Rodriguez to have independently ordered the destruction of the tapes. "If everybody was against the decision, why in the world would Jose Rodriguez - one of the most cautious men I have ever met - have gone ahead and destroyed them?"
Another former CIA officer, Larry Johnson, told the Times that when he speaks to Congress, Rodriguez could implicate the White House: "The CIA and Jose Rodriguez look bad," he told the paper, "but he's probably the least culpable person in the process. He didn't wake up one day and decide, 'I'm going to destroy these tapes.' He checked with a lot of people, and eventually he is going to get his say."
History may play a part in this: According to Johnson, Rodriguez - a 30-year veteran of the agency - was questioned in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s, at which time the Reagan-Bush administration backed away from protecting him, telling him the political nature of the scandal meant he should get his own lawyer.
Rodriguez was director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, until his retirement in September.
Intelligence sources told the Times that it is likely Rodriguez is determined to not become a "fall guy" in the matter.
Rodriguez's attorney notified the House Intelligence Committee this week that Rodriguez would agree to the committee's request to appear, but that he required a subpoena first.
That subpoena was issued on Thursday.
Copyright 2009 CBS. All rights reserved. The House Intelligence Committee issued a subpoena Thursday to Jose Rodriguez, a former CIA official who oversaw the interrogation of terrorism suspects, and who allegedly ordered the destruction of interrogation videotapes.
According to the Times of London, Rodriguez will seek immunity from prosecution before testifying before the committee on January 15.
It was learned earlier this month that the CIA had recorded hundreds of hours of interrogations of at least two terrorism suspects, allegedly incorporating torture techniques, and then destroyed the tapes in 2005. The CIA hid the existence of the tapes from judges, congressional overseers, and the 9/11 Commission investigating the government's intelligence activities.
This week a U.S. judge questioned whether the CIA's destruction of the tapes violated a court order issued in 2005 to preserve any information relating to the interrogation of terrorism suspects at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo Bay. CIA lawyers responded that the tapes were not subject to that order because, even though Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri have been detained at Guantanamo, their interrogations were conducted elsewhere.
A former CIA officer has spoken publicly that Zubaydah was waterboarded (a form of torture that simulates drowning). He allegedly "broke" and revealed information, although there has been much dispute as to the veracity of that information.
The House investigation comes on the heels of President Bush's comments that he did not "recall" the existence of the torture tapes until he was briefed on the matter by CIA director Michael Hayden about two weeks ago, and a subsequent New York Times report that at least four White House officials discussed the tapes at least two years ago.
The four staffers cited were Alberto Gonzales, the former attorney general who served as White House counsel until early 2005; David Addington, a key aide to Vice President Dick Cheney; John Bellinger III, who until January 2005 was the senior lawyer at the National Security Council; and Harriet Miers, who succeeded Gonzales as White House counsel.
In an interview with the London Times, former CIA counterterrorism head Vincent Cannistraro said it was impossible for Rodriguez to have independently ordered the destruction of the tapes. "If everybody was against the decision, why in the world would Jose Rodriguez - one of the most cautious men I have ever met - have gone ahead and destroyed them?"
Another former CIA officer, Larry Johnson, told the Times that when he speaks to Congress, Rodriguez could implicate the White House: "The CIA and Jose Rodriguez look bad," he told the paper, "but he's probably the least culpable person in the process. He didn't wake up one day and decide, 'I'm going to destroy these tapes.' He checked with a lot of people, and eventually he is going to get his say."
History may play a part in this: According to Johnson, Rodriguez - a 30-year veteran of the agency - was questioned in the Iran-Contra scandal in the 1980s, at which time the Reagan-Bush administration backed away from protecting him, telling him the political nature of the scandal meant he should get his own lawyer.
Rodriguez was director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, until his retirement in September.
Intelligence sources told the Times that it is likely Rodriguez is determined to not become a "fall guy" in the matter.
Rodriguez's attorney notified the House Intelligence Committee this week that Rodriguez would agree to the committee's request to appear, but that he required a subpoena first.
That subpoena was issued on Thursday.
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For myself, being my 51st birthday, the present I would like more than any other, is to see Bush, Cheney, and the rest of their klan in handcuffs...
Posted by brianbwb at 03:42 AM : Dec 24, 2007
+ rep
Same to you brianwb I wish your Christmas to be all it can be just for you and the rest of us.
Posted by starleo14672
TO brianwb, starleo, radiobob, ST and others...
Have a merry Christmas! I certainly wish for good health and happiness for all with coming new year. As always it is great to exhange thoughts on this website!
Good night and Merry Christmas to all.
ST
"I would not render the well of compassion and good will to mystical forces unseen, as much as to humanities spirit unconquered."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
And it will always be here, and never without defense.
Let us keep the promises we made to ourselves.
ST
ST you have always, in your words give me hope, if there were more in this world who take the time to give us facts, and hope, what a great world it would be. I am one of you dearest fans and look for your words constantly so never give up, and the bad words that get thrown back such as blow it out your windpipe, as I saw this morning, tells me we have a lot of work to do.
For myself, being my 51st birthday, the present I would like more than any other, is to see Bush, Cheney, and the rest of their klan in handcuffs...
Posted by brianbwb at 03:42 AM : Dec 24, 2007
+ rep
Same to you brianwb I wish your Christmas to be all it can be just for you and the rest of us.
starleo14672
Humanity is the bright spot you seek fellow patriot.
And it will always be here, and never without defense.
Let us keep the promises we made to ourselves.
ST
"I understand. For I have been disappointed also. Humanity, overall, almost always disappoints me. However humans, individually, almost always fill me with hope. This has led me to the conviction that humanity is good; it is our organization and ideologies that have proven pitifully and woefully ineffective and inadequate."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
Can you imagine what would happen to any of us if we destroyed evidence in even a civil trial.
Others write here that they don''''t find this interesting news. We torture people in this country, and that is not interesting to you?
I am appalled and sick at our government and even more so by those people who condone it.
Posted by Vet_SK at 07:53 AM : Dec 24, 2007
My sentiments exactly, when does it end, the corruption in politics is just unreasonable, and it has to end, and our justice system of which we depend on as secure and without penetration has let us down miserably.Our Supreme Court which is the last resort for justice has taken the position that King George and Darth Vader are our supreme justice. When these politicians are playing games with our future and blocking bills that can help because there wants are more pressing than the countries wants, and if that isn''t enough we have so much *** crimes and pandering the *** world I just can not believe what our country has become.
The problem was that I was innocent.
ST
"And so, just as Hitler and Stalin before them, Bush and his henchmen recruited brutal sociopaths to torture and murder, accounting only to their personal will. Lending them, wholeheartedly and enthusiastically, all necessary moral and legal blessing.
I have always been curious, and wondered, who the American people thought were torturing and murdering in our name."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
Can you imagine what would happen to any of us if we destroyed evidence in even a civil trial.
Others write here that they don''t find this interesting news. We torture people in this country, and that is not interesting to you?
I am appalled and sick at our government and even more so by those people who condone it.
My friends, sometimes the most difficult thing about fighting evil is realizing that it actually exists, and then unambiguously and forcefully calling it what it is.
History shows time and time again that one of evils greatest strengths is its ability to disguise itself as good, or at least a temporary necessity, until that last fatal moment when its revelation becomes clear, indisputable, and inescapable.
So today let us take a clear and unadulterated look into the mirror at ourselves.
Just six years ago we were one of the most respected and admired defenders of democracy and human rights in history. Respected not only by our friends, but even begrudgingly by most of our enemies. In fact, even the fantastic power of our military paled in comparison to the overwhelming might of our moral authority.
Today we are a nation that operates secret prisons occupied by anonymous inmates, illegally abducted and held indefinitely without charge or representation. We are guilty of torture. We are guilty of murder. We are guilty of preemptive war of conquest. We are guilty of the wholesale surveillance of our population, suppressing all hope of privacy and free dissent. And we are guilty of disgracing our nation through the abandonment of even our most basic precepts of morality.
If this is not evil, then nothing we have ever fought against is evil, and nothing we have ever fought for is good.
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com