CIA Destroyed Dozens Of Terror Interviews

Nearly 100 Interrogation Tapes Destroyed, Far More Than Agency Previously Admitted, Documents Show

(CBS/AP)  The CIA destroyed nearly 100 videotapes of terror suspect interrogations, far more than previously acknowledged, the Obama administration said Monday as it began disclosing details of post-Sept. 11 Bush-era actions.

The interrogations were a highly contentious issue during the administration of President George W. Bush, with many Democrats and other critics saying that some methods used amounted to torture - a contention Bush and other officials rejected. A criminal prosecutor is wrapping up his investigation in the matter.

Monday's acknowledgment, however, involved a civil lawsuit filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking more details of the interrogation programs following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

"The CIA can now identify the number of videotapes that were destroyed," said the letter submitted in that case by Acting U.S. Attorney Lev Dassin. "Ninety two videotapes were destroyed."

ACLU attorney Amrit Singh said the CIA should be held in contempt of court for holding back the information for so long.

"The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations and to evade the court's order," Singh said.

The details of CIA interrogations, and the existence of tapes documenting those sessions, have become the subject of long fights in a number of different court cases. In the trial of Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, prosecutors initially claimed no such recordings existed, then acknowledged after the trial was over that two videotapes and one audiotape had been made.

The fact that the tapes were destroyed may not be altogether surprising, but the case could have ramifications for the future of terror investigations.

"The CIA has been destroying evidence of its work for as long as there has been a CIA," writes CBS News legal analyst Andrew Cohen. "The question now is whether that practice is going to have to be altered to protect the government's ability to successfully prosecute terror suspects."

The Dassin letter, dated March 2 to Judge Alvin Hellerstein, says the CIA is now gathering more details for the lawsuit, including a list of the destroyed records, any secondary accounts that describe the destroyed contents and the identities of those who may have viewed or possessed the recordings before they were destroyed.

But the lawyers also note that some of that information may be classified, such as the names of CIA personnel who viewed the tapes.

"The CIA intends to produce all of the information requested to the court and to produce as much information as possible on the public record to the plaintiffs," states the letter.

The separate criminal investigation includes interrogations of al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah and another top al Qaeda leader. Tapes of those interrogations were destroyed, in part, the Bush administration said, to protect the identities of the government questioners at a time the Justice Department was debating whether or not the tactics used during the interrogations - which are believed to have included waterboarding - were legal.

"The scandal over the tapes is a direct result of the government's strategies after 9/11 to aggressively interrogate terror suspects for information about future attacks, as opposed to questioning them with an eye toward future criminal trials," writes Cohen.

John Durham, a senior career prosecutor in Connecticut, is leading the criminal investigation, out of Virginia, and had asked that he be given until the end of February to wrap up his work before requests for information in the civil lawsuit were dealt with.

Durham's spokesman, Tom Carson, had no immediate comment.

[reggone]

graveboat63, whats wrong with someone that doesn't look like you? Who made YOU the decider, Obama is trying to bring this country back around. You have to spend money to make money you idiot, what did you expect him to do, nothing? You sound like a racist piece of trash, finally America is rejecting people like you. What if he were Muslim, America is for everybody, not just black or white. I am a SFC in the U.S Army and am black, you would probably call me names to even though I have good intentions.

[Solarrays247]

Barry siding with his MUSLIM brothers...looking to completely take down the USA by ruining what economy is left and starting a revolution...Obama! Obama! Obama!

Did any of you sheep ever ask or wonder what "hope and change" really meant???
Posted by badaxmofo at 3:52 PM : Mar 2, 2009

Nah, probably for the same reason that no one ever asked or wondered what Bushie baby meant when he stated, "mission accomplished" while standing on that carrier.

....Things that just make ya go hmmmm-mmm-mmm! LOL

[dahizzle]

badaxmofo, you are the people honest Americans need to worry about. Your trailer park mentality is a tired leftover from an administration who very nearly (and might have) destroyed our once great nation. You are a POS.

[pensacola8-2009]

If the CIA sees fit to destroy interrogation tapes, then it is probably because the interrogations were not producing anything worthwhile. Nothing in this article specifically implies that those interrogated were held or charged with any crime.

There are many readers who would like to believe that the CIA interrogated the same detainees that are held in the controversial Guantanamo Detainee Camp, and then later disposed of the interrogation tapes. This article does not say that.

Keeping the CIA honest and accountable is especially hard since the COLD WAR ended in 1989.

President Eisenhaur signed an executive order to keep the NSA budget classified and permit the NSA to fight the cold war without having to account completely to the Executive Branch.

The Cold War was over 20 years ago. Why are they still permitted to have a classified budget and not be accountable to the Executive Branch?

[FreddyBartholomew]

There were 8 other memos released today, and Yahoo is the only media site that seems to want to cover them.

[speakinup]

"It turns out, that is NOT TRUE. They were ALREADY going to surrender. We dropped nukes on them after they had already asked to surrender, just to "show we were tough". The result? A "cold war" with the world on the edge of destruction for half a century.
Posted by every1one at 2:42 PM


I'm with AJ - this is new news to me. It goes contrary to every think I've ever heard. I'd like to see your source.

[speakinup]

"Monday's acknowledgment, however, involved a civil lawsuit filed in New York by the American Civil Liberties Union seeking more details of the interrogation programs following the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. - article


I think CIA should be FORCED to demonstrate on everyone of those lawyers EXACTLY what they did to each and every one of those Poor innocents in GITMO, for exactly the same length of time (we wouldn't want the lawyers to mis understand now, would we ?)


While we're on the topic - why do you suppose Barry decided to continue rendition ?

Maybe there is a good reason ?

[searingtruth]

"I writhed in anguish for years. Always knowing pain was coming, but never knowing what I should attempt to say next, or how I should appear so that my American torturers would believe me.

The problem was that I was innocent."
SearingTruth


"We became evil to fight evil, assuring its victory."
SearingTruth

A Future of the Brave

[hetup-2009]

They only destroyed the recordings that implicated the CIA in buying drugs.

[mikebartram]

The 11th Amendment to the Constitution has nothing whatsoever to do with treaties. It also doesn't have an Article 9 or any other article for that matter. It deals with limits on the Federal Courts in certain law suits. What was ChgKBINOT trying to tell us?