CIA's destruction of tapes likely to spur lawsuits

Washington - The Central Intelligence Agency's admission that it destroyed at least two videotapes of harsh interrogations of terror suspects has caused an uproar in Washington and seems almost certain to lead to legal challenges to the agency's actions.

The chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee called for a full investigation of the matter, while the American Civil Liberties Union charged that the shredding of the tapes was more evidence of the Bush administration's long-term pattern of shielding government officials from criminal prosecution for torture and abuse.
"The destruction of these tapes suggests an utter disregard for the rule of law," said Jameel Jaffer, director of the ACLU's National Security Project.

News of the tapes broke at a time when the treatment of terror suspects was already a priority item on the US national agenda. House and Senate negotiators on Thursday reached agreement on legislation that would ban the use of waterboarding and other harsh techniques by CIA interrogators.
The ban, included in a spending authorization bill for US intelligence agencies, must still be passed in its final form by both chambers of Congress. The Bush administration has in the past threatened to veto similar legislation.

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Destruction of the tapes took place in 2005, said Hayden. According to the Washington Post, the move was ordered by Jose Rodriguez, who then headed the CIA's clandestine operations branch.

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Whether the destruction of the tapes was illegal might hinge on exactly when it occurred. If any legal actions challenging the interrogation practices had already started, then withholding the tapes, much less destroying them, might be counted an obstruction of justice.
And at least one such effort may, indeed, have been under way: Beginning in 2003, attorneys for Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui began seeking video- and audiotapes of interrogations they thought might prove their client was innocent of planning the 9/11 attacks.