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Repubs "Knew Of (Torture) Footage & The CIA's Decision To Destroy It"

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Home » Discuss » Archives » General Discussion (1/22-2007 thru 12/14/2010)

kpete

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Fri Dec-07-07 07:53 AM
Original message

Repubs "Knew Of (Torture) Footage & The CIA's Decision To Destroy It"

Edited on Fri Dec-07-07 08:03 AM by kpete

BUT WE DON'T TORTURE
Interrogations were taped in 2002 after President George Bush authorised the use of severe techniques, including the highly controversial practice of waterboarding, against al-Qaida detainees.
December 7, 2007

CIA "destroyed rendition interrogation tapes"
Hannah Strange

The CIA destroyed video evidence of severe interrogation techniques used on al-Qaeda operatives detained under the agency�s controversial rendition programme, the New York Times reported today.

...................

However their destruction is also likely to prompt questions as to whether agency officials withheld information about the rendition programme from investigators. Officials from the September 11 commission told the newspaper that they had requested interrogation evidence from the CIA and had been told that they had indeed received all materials. Lawyers for Zacarias Moussaoui, the only man convicted over the 9/11 attacks, had also requested such submissions.

The American Civil Liberties Union meanwhile voiced concern at the actions of the CIA. �The destruction of these tapes appears to be part of an extensive, long-term pattern of misusing executive authority to insulate individuals from criminal prosecution for torture and abuse,� it said in a statement.

.................

Hayden's memo, obtained by CNN, said that while the leaders of the House and Senate intelligence committees - then Republican - knew of existence of the footage and the CIA's decision to destroy it, Democratic committee members had not been informed, despite their request that such interrogations be filmed.

more at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3015349.ece

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Richard Steele

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Fri Dec-07-07 07:55 AM
Response to Original message

1. Grrrecommended

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C_U_L8R

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Fri Dec-07-07 07:56 AM
Response to Original message

2. Obstruction

some people should be in jail for this

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robbedvoter

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Fri Dec-07-07 07:57 AM
Response to Original message

3. The party of torture, wars and greed

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rodeodance

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Fri Dec-07-07 07:58 AM
Response to Original message

4. for me, this comment says Dems on the Committee KNEW torture was taking place. Right?

......Democratic committee members had not been informed, despite their request that such interrogations be filmed.

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rodeodance

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Fri Dec-07-07 07:59 AM
Response to Reply #4

5. REC

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rodeodance

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Fri Dec-07-07 08:00 AM
Response to Original message

6. so, the excuse was that they did NOT want to out CIA agents. Ironic given what the WH did!

.....The tapes posed a serious security risk," the CIA's director, Michael Hayden, told agency employees in a statement yesterday, released after he learned the New York Times were about to publish the story. "Were they ever to leak, they would permit identification of your CIA colleagues who had served in the programme, exposing them and their families to retaliation from al-Qaida and its sympathisers."

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kentuck

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Fri Dec-07-07 08:06 AM
Response to Original message

7. I don't think we can excuse the Democrats on the Committees...

Jay Rockefeller, Diane Feinstein, and others are accomplices by their silence if they knew. I would suspect that they did know about it. By the logic of their positions, they must remain silent even if they know crimes are being committed. They are sworn to secrecy. They are incompetents.

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tekisui

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Fri Dec-07-07 08:07 AM
Response to Original message

8. There is still audio and a lot of pictures.

I bet that there are more videos as well.

Are the videos destoyed the ones that McCain and the others saw and were so disturbing that they said they could never be released?

All these war criminal fuckers need to rot in a tiny cell for the rest of their days.

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babylonsister

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Fri Dec-07-07 09:28 AM
Response to Original message

9. Someone's lying. Harman claims she infomed the CIA is writing

not to destroy the tapes; Hoekstra claims he was never informed of anything, or can't remember (!):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2422501&mesg_id=2422501

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formercia

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Fri Dec-07-07 11:15 AM
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10. Destroying tapes is standard procedure

As part of training, we had to take a hostile interrogation class. Several of the students filed complaints that the instructors were crossing the line by being overly aggressive. The sessions were all videotaped for class review but when management asked to see the interrogation tapes, they were told they had been destroyed.

Punks trying to cover their ass.

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spanone

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Fri Dec-07-07 11:16 AM
Response to Original message

11. this nation has strayed a million miles from our constitution

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Elidor

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Fri Dec-07-07 12:27 PM
Response to Original message

12. So did top Democrats

It seems as if the "four" congressional leaders Harman refers to as knowing about the tapes were the chairs and ranking members of the intelligence committees: Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS), Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Rep. Porter Goss (R-FL), and Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA). Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) took Goss' spot as chairman of the House intelligence committee that year when Goss became CIA director. Hoekstra told the AP that he didn't know a thing about either the tapes or their destruction. I'm calling Harman to ask her for her letter to the CIA about the tapes, and will bring it to you if and when I have it.

But the bottom line here is that at least some Congressional leaders knew something about the tapes and something about their destruction, and didn't say anything about either. Harman's silence is especially stunning: she co-chaired a joint Congressional inquiry into the 9/11 attacks in 2002 that didn't receive that very pertinent information. Why did she remain quiet about potentially criminal behavior? Marty Lederman has some thoughts here:

Jay Rockefeller is constantly learning of legally dubious (at best) CIA intelligence activities, and then saying nothing about them publicly until they are leaked to the press, at which point he expresses outrage and incredulity -- but reveals nothing. Really, isn't it about time the Democrats select an effective Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, one who will treat this scandal with the seriousness it deserves, and who will shed much-needed light on the CIA program of torture, cruel treatment and obstruction of evidence? ...

Jane Harman also knew of the intention to destroy the tapes, and she at least "urged" the CIA in writing not to do it. (Where were her colleagues?) But when she found out the CIA had destroyed the tapes, where was Harman's press conference? Where were the congressional hearings?

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004847.php

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al bupp

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Fri Dec-07-07 11:49 PM
Response to Reply #12

13. We really ought to hold...

Rockafeller's and Harmon's feet to the fire on this, to use an ironic figure of speach, given the topic. The muck here is well raked.

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OnyxCollie

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Fri Dec-07-07 11:57 PM
Response to Reply #13

14. Watch what you say. Talk like that will get you labeled a homegrown terrorist.

Harman sponsored H.R. 1955...

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Kurovski

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Sat Dec-08-07 01:03 AM
Response to Original message

15. K&R. (nt)

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