CIA Destroyed Video of ‘Waterboarding’ Al-Qaida Detainees
The CIA destroyed video evidence of the coercive interrogation of al-Qaida operatives held under its secret rendition programme in order to shield agents from prosecution, it was revealed yesterday.
The decision to destroy two videotapes documenting the use of waterboarding against Abu Zubaydah and another high-value al-Qaida detainee was made in November 2005 - as American media were just beginning to focus on the existence of the secret CIA prison network.
“The tapes posed a serious security risk,” the CIA’s director, Michael Hayden, told agency employees in a statement yesterday. “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.”
Hayden’s message to CIA employees went out a day after he learned that the New York Times planned to publish an article today about destruction of the videotapes.
The revelation is bound to reignite debate in Congress about the use of torture in the war on terror. But far more seriously for the Bush administration, it raises the prospect that the CIA withheld information from and obstructed the work of the commission investigating the September 11 attacks as well as lawyers for Zacarias Moussaoui, the so-called 11th hijacker. Officials from the September 11 commission told the New York Times yesterday they had formally requested from the CIA evidence of interrogations, and had been informed that all materials had been handed over.
The Washington Post, which also carried a story on its website yesterday about the destroyed videotapes, reported that the order to destroy the tapes came from Jose Rodriguez Jr, then the director of the CIA’s clandestine operations.
The leaders of the house and Senate intelligence committees - which were then under Republican control - were aware of the existence of the footage and the CIA’s decision to destroy the material, Hayden said in his memo. However, Democratic committee members who had long demanded that such interrogations be videotaped, were not made aware of the existence of the tapes, the Times reported.
Hayden said the interrogations were filmed in 2002 after George Bush authorised the use of harsh interrogation, including the controversial practice of controlled drowning, known as waterboarding, against al-Qaida suspects.
“The agency was determined that it proceed in accord with established legal and policy guidelines,” Hayden wrote. “So, on its own, CIA began to videotape interrogations.”
However, the CIA soon discontinued the practice, and it is believed that only two detainees were filmed while undergoing interrogation. It has long been believed that Abu Zubaydah, a Saudi believed to be a close associated of Osama bin Laden, was subjected to harsh treatment following his capture in Pakistan in March 2002.
The footage would have clarified what practices such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation - both of which a gravely wounded Abu Zubaydah was subjected to - involve.
© 2007 Guardian News
How many shredding machines will there be in the Bush Presidential library?
{Article quote}: “The tapes posed a serious security risk,” the CIA’s director, Michael Hayden, told agency employees in a statement yesterday. “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.”
And just when did the CIA become so concerned about identification of their operatives? Can we all say … Valerie Plame?
Hypocrites all.
Clearly the CIA is worried about their agents being charged with crimes against humanity. The orders for torture obviously came from the top. The Dems need to live up to their Constitutional responsibility and start impeachment hearings today.
The Bush Administration destroyed the visual evidence of US government ordered torture to hide their guilty asses from later prosecution for war crimes and crimes against humanity. We have a government of liars and hypocrites who tear up evidence of their own wrongdoing, and the so-called opposition party lets them get away with it, too!
Not only does America torture, it does everything in its power to protect the torturers….. one more thing to be outraged and ashamed about as an American citizen.
There’s more. Zubaydah was tortured into implicating Jose Padilla, but the evidence was withheld, then destroyed. Padilla’s lawyers and the judge requested tapes of the “interrogation”, but were told there weren’t any - before the destruction. The CIA lied.
The Democrats are in full squeal over this outrage. So much safer than taking on Iraq, NAFTA, or single payer health care.
“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.” Michael Hayden
Yes Michael, I’m sure that “al-Qaida” is terribly concerned that you are making porno movies of torture victims sent to you from places like Bosnia, Germany, UK, Italy, Yemen, JFK airport (partial list). You have really blown their claim that you Americans are evil out of the water! And how you have upheld your constitution! So you had to commit war crimes, crimes against humanity, breaches of ratified treaties, unconstitutional acts, Hillory will pardon you if it comes to that!
I find it more likely Hayden is more concerned about keeping things in mafia lest the denizens of America notice that their government is breaking the UN Convention against Torture, Geneva Conventions, domestic US anti torture legislation, etc. (partial list, sorry it’s hard to keep track of the lawbreaking. When you Americans go fascist, you don’t screw around!)
These torture laws may be foggy notions to Americans but what it boils down to is the realization among the peoples of the world that Americans will do or say anything to get not what they need (we all could cooperate to make this a safer world) but what they want, namely more wealth.
In your own personal life, what would you think of someone who would lie, cheat, steal, assault, torture, and murder? (again partial list) Would you lend them money if you didn’t have to? If one of their victims got in a lucky shot, would you shed tears?
I don’t think even the progressive crowd at CommonDreams realizes yet what America has lost.
Through torture they were able to get a complete confession from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed that he was the mastermind of 9/11. You would think that when that news came out it would make the front page. WE GOT HIM! It didn’t even make the second page on many newspapers and no “domino effect” of information has come from his admission. That’s strange. Why hasn’t it? A little more torture and he would have admitted to shooting Kennedy. A little more and he would have admitted to a homosexual affair with Bin Laden.
Of course the CIA destroys the evidence of their torture. It’s not about “identity protection”. If that were the case then they could have worn masks during the interrigation. It’s about violating people’s rights and inhuman acts.
Funny…he doesn’t look too very-worried about ‘Al Qaida’ retaliating against HIM or others ‘at the top’, even though his face/address are so public (but then-again, why should he be — well-paid employee’s generally don’t ‘harm’ their-boss).
What ghouls these people are. They sadistically torture people, and film it. If they were paedophiles, imagine the outcry. Because they are “patriots” few people care.
America does not torture.
Torture is a crime; every American knows this. Some Americans who have committed or participated in this crime have done so without thinking, they are thinking now. Some Americans who have committed or participated in this crime have done so willfully, if they don’t regret it yet they may regret it soon.
The Bush Administration, many Republicans and some Democrats condoned and/or encouraged the use of torture. Crimes are more likely to be committed in an environment which condones and/or encourages them.
The American people have been fooled and schooled by politicians whose actions represent their own choices not the choices of those who voted for them. Those politicians who thought it was smart to condone and/or encourage torture likely don’t anymore.
Jane Harman an anti-palestine, pro-war, pro-bush democrat knew all about this plan to destroy the evidence but did nothing except claim she wrote a little note.
People who live in Southern California have to act now to vote out of office this woman who makes lieberman look like an extreme left winger.
We need to post on blogs and get the message out to people to vote NO to Jane Harman in 2008.
dreamertoo December 7th, 2007 3:45 pm:
“America does not torture.”
I fear you are serious…
…Where have I heard that before? Let’s look in the Bush Regime Dictionary of the American Language…er…Torture: “equivalent in intensity to the pain accompanying serious physical injury, such as organ failure”
Yeah … fascinating.
“Torture is a crime”
…Hmmm, crimes are punished in my universe, however in America, let us count how many of the people that dreamt up, set up and operate the torture rooms are in prison…err…zero. I guess the definition of crime is different in America as well. For your information, in democracies, when there is a criminal scandal involving a leader, he/she recuses himself lest there be a conflict of interest. Obviously you can’t have the ridiculous situation where a president resigns under a cloud of illegality and is pardoned by his chosen successor….What? Nixon who? Oh, I’m sorry.
“Those politicians who thought it was smart to condone and/or encourage torture likely don’t anymore.”
This remains to be seen.
Dreamertoo, other than the above, I hope your optimism is warranted.
The Dems are outraged and calling for an investigation. Why must we go through this fascade of Congressional oversight again. Let me guess. The Dems will ask the white house for documents. Bush will say no. Dems will say Oh, okay.
ok, who’s got the copy? when does the blackmail begin?
There was a time in the USA when destroying incriminating recorded material was all that was needed to take down the President…..
There was also a time when authorizing torture never would have been brought up in the first place.
As far as being able to identify anyone, that of course is a crock. Any tape or film can easily be edited and the faces of any whose identiy should be protected can be scrambled. I’m fairly certain the CIA is able to accomplish that.
I’d bet there are more tapes that were not destroyed, perhaps someday they will surface to be seen on the net or on our nightly news.
jlocke123,
You’re making some pretty offensive comments, especially here, where people are at least making some kind of effort to change the problems our country faces. I think what dreamertoo was getting at is the average American looks down upon torture, which, as far as I can tell,
is the case. We’re not all fat lazy couch potatoes, living without a clue as to what’s going on in the world, nor are we all rabid neo-cons looking to fire our “pain rays” at anyone who doesn’t promptly surrender their oil.
We have a run-away government and a sedated and docile public. The few of us who are aware of what’s going on are having a hell of a time spreading the word and waking up the rest. Bashing the guys who are trying to make a difference isn’t going to solve the problem, now, is it?
P.S. Torture is a crime, and believe me, if I went around nearly drowning people I’d be
in jail in a heartbeat. The problem is that we have a few people in this country who see
themselves as being above the law, namely our government’s executive branch. Also, I was under the impression that Tricky Dicky II’s fall man leaked Palmer’s Identity.
Good for you there ANG, __ well said.
This has come up before, with the Republicans’ famous disappearing e-mail trick — remember?
My reply now is the same as it was when that fiasco surfaced several months ago:
It’s like going to a parking ramp in a big city. The only way to keep people honest is to make the fee for losing a ticket GREATER than the maximum fee for parking in the ramp. If this is not the case, it’s a no-brainer to just sort of lose the ticket.
Unless one is extremely naive, we are compelled to conclude that they parked a very, very long time in the Torture Street Ramp.
I’m just glad that the mainstream media is finally calling waterboarding what it is — not “simulated drowning” (really harmless, kind of like faking an orgasm), but “controlled drowning”. The victim is being drowned, and is only “saved” by his torturers so that he can be drowned again.
This is the second use of “controlled drowning” I’ve seen/heard today. Before today, nothing.
jloke, many of us on Commondreams are well aware of what America has lost - it’s innocence. I lost mine during Vietnam. I later learned that we have murdered our way to “greatness”, starting with our own indigenous people and working our way through whoever was in the way of resources we wanted to steal. but sooner or later everyone has to pay the piper, and our turn is coming.
I saw a poll last year about torture. A majority of Republicans favored torture if it would gain information to protect us, and a large majority of Democrats opposed torture for any reason. Bottom line, the majority of Americans opposed torture and a sizable minority favored it. We are a divided country.
And I see that the corporate media has come up with a new euphemism for torture: “harsh interrogation”. Maybe they should try some on themselves.
AnguselheimStudios, It was not my intention to offend, I am truly sorry if I gave the impression that I was trying to bash anyone. Actually I thought what dreamertoo wrote was noteworthy and this is why I responded to it.
Listen, it’s the early twenty-first century, the cold war is over, they have mapped the human genome, computers can do billions of calculations per second and the US, the country that many expected to be a centrepiece of a new peaceful world system, is acting like any of the empires at the turn of the last century. I’m filled with a sense that an historic opportunity for peace has been lost. “get atomic bombs and get them fast” is the message other nations that don’t want to be under the American thumb are hearing.
That’s why I err on the side of exasperation, disbelief and outrage when I hear stories like this. I know sensible Americans exist. It’s just that I can’t understand how you with all the information and historical knowledge at your disposal, seem to have zero impact on the course of events. So I stand chastised but please, it’s not just your arses on the line.
I am confident my optimism is warranted, jlocke123.
We’ll be taking our country back, soon, from those who stole it; they’ll wish they hadn’t.
Hopefully what we learn this time around will keep us from having to go through this again, at least, for a long time to come.
Thank you, AnguselheimStudios!
Dick Cheney’s Chief of Staff, Lewis Libby, leaked Valerie Plame Wilson’s identity; he was convicted of obstruction of justice and was then pardoned by President Bush.
We are all disappointed, outraged and angered by what we have experienced, jlocke123.
We all want the same peace that you want.
The arrogance of some Americans has kept us from that peace. Their arrogance has taught Americans, once again, not to take their freedom for granted. Americans are also learning, as you have said, that their missteps and the missteps of their leaders affect the whole world.
American will not regain her footing without the help and understanding of her friends throughout the world.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Read Walden pond, by Thoreau
Read Crime and Punishment and wonder who really is the main character.
I don’t recall anybody engaged in the practice of torture standing up and saying “I did it, I’m proud of it, I enjoyed hearing their screams and jacking off to them.” They run for cover like cockroaches when the lights come on. So I’m not surprised evidence gets trashed.
I believe that torture is done by sadistic psychopaths, and if the idea they are increasing their countries’ security provides an ostensible excuse for it, so much the better for them. Governments always seem to be able to find these types when they want to, so there must not be any shortage of them. Any nation which uses torture as an instrument of national policy is not worth saving anyway, in my book.
What amazes me is people’s inability to see the real picture.
The banding around of accusations – The hopes of ramifications for actions etc. Are all worthless. We do not live in a democracy. It is a manufactured idea. The left and the right, they are all the same. Politics is merely a tool used to distract the people from the activities of the controlling elites. The real question is what are we going to do to change this situation? There appears to be many informed, involved and intelligent people out there (on this site and many others), all voicing their grievances but still under the misgiving that justice will prevail. Freedom is a word that I continually see banded around, but I doubt that any of us really know what it means (Myself included). We are living in a controlled experiment designed hundreds of years ago as a means to making the herds subservient and compliant to the master.
Maybe that for those who are outraged with the activities of government in America & UK among others, their time would be better spent working together towards real change. Know your Enemy! -
http://www.theuselesseaters.com
What amazes me is people’s inability to see the real picture.
The banding around of accusations – The hopes of ramifications for actions etc. Are all worthless. We do not live in a democracy. It is a manufactured idea. The left and the right, they are all the same. Politics is merely a tool used to distract the people from the activities of the controlling elites. The real question is what are we going to do to change this situation? There appears to be many informed, involved and intelligent people out there (on this site and many others), all voicing their grievances but still under the misgiving that justice will prevail. Freedom is a word that I continually see banded around, but I doubt that any of us really know what it means (Myself included). We are living in a controlled experiment designed hundreds of years ago as a means to making the herds subservient and compliant to the master.
Maybe, that for those who are outraged with the activities of government in America & UK among others, that their time would be better spent working together towards real change. Know your Enemy! -
http://www.theuselesseaters.com
I wonder if the videos may have been destroyed because Bush or Cheney were partisipants, insuring their approved methods of interrogation were appropriate and effective?
If not, they could try ramming explosive charges up the ‘guilty ones’ rears and insuring the terrorists spilled their guts.
In answer to How many shredding machines in the bush library. Answer is; No one can ever know, it’s a security risk issue.
This immoral administration uses Security Risk defense as a blanket defense to cover up their high crimes and misdemeanors
Impeach the bastards
The tapes had to be destroyed lest they reveal the true picture of 9/11 and its run up. One astute reader, responding to The Washington Post’s editorial on the subject today, speculates that the tapes were destroyed to cover up people in the upper ranks of the US who were involved with agents of Saudi Arabia and Pakistan in the lead up to 9/11. Disclosing the contents would have meant the unraveling of the Bush syndicate.
The Bush admin WANTS us to know that they’re into torturing people. Sure, the military and the CIA have always tortured people but it was always kept a secret until now. Now it’s so unsecret that our President, while signing a no-torture bill that shouldn’t even be in existence because the Geneva Convention says “no torture” already, says he’s not going to pay any attention to the “no-torture” part of the bill. Our Attorney General also says torture is okay, publicly. A popular TV show portrays the hero as a guy who tortures people. What’s the point of all this “let’s bring torture out into the open and tell people it’s a good thing” stuff?
The point is to let us know our government tortures people so we’ll think that the danger from terrorists is so extreme that our beloved government, which under normal circumstances would NEVER torture people, has to torture people to protect We, the People from those ubiquitous Islamic terrorists. And so we’ll let them, our trusted elected leaders, take our civil liberties away from us, one by one, without saying a word about it.
And the point is to keep us from waking up and voting for someone who really has our best interests at heart. Someone like, for example, Dennis Kucinich, who may very well be the bravest man in America. A man so brave that, as a politician, he dares to tell the truth. A man so brave that he is willing to tell us that we don’t need to spend half of every single tax dollar on guns, bullets and bombs. A man so brave that he is willing to tell us that our government is ripping us off and lying to us and trashing our Constitution and destroying our environment and killing our young people in a country across the ocean because it wants to control all the oil in the Middle East.
If the poor and middle class voted in their own best interests the military would be halved, we wouldn’t be at war, the US would make things again, we’d all have free health care (this wouldn’t mean higher taxes, either - all it would mean is that our tax dollars would be divied up differently) and the environment would be in better shape.
But, since that’s not typically how the poor and middle class vote, what we have is socialism for the extremely wealthy and Charles Darwinian survival of the fittest for the poor and middle class.
Stop buying unnecessary things and, for the first time in your life, vote for who we really want and let’s see what happens. Vote for Kucinich. Please. He’s one of us.
ticonderoga, while I agree that Kucinich has done some extremely brave things in opposing the Bush administration, do you not feel like you are having a carrot hung in front of your nose? If your electolral system can be rigged in the ways that it is alledged to have been during both of Bush’s “Victories”, what makes you think it wont happen again, and that You/WE can “trust” that the next replacement will be one fairly elected into office?
Also, why if polls show (MSNBC) that upto 89% of Americans feel that Bush and Cheney have committed serious enough crimes that they warrant impeachment and more…, are the American people happy to let the congress stall and delay, and then say that they will not place Kucinich’s bills on the table. I cant understand how the media has turned what are catergorically legitimate claims for impeachment into a partisian issue. Now whenever someone mentions corruption, lies, cronyism, and most importantly War Crimes!!! they are seen as promoting a left wing agenda! in an attempt to sway votes for the 2008 election, instead of been dealt with in a manner that suits the seriousness of the issues raised.
The American people can impeach Clinton for Blow Jobs in the Oval Office, but not a Fascist, Warmonger, Brutal Dictator, who has destroyed your constitution to cover his own ass… I stand amazed!
Useless_Eaters, I’m amazed, too. What it looks like to me is that Americans in general have become conned into turning into “good Germans,” looking the other way while our government commits atrocities in our name and desecrates our Constitution.
Why are the American people happy to let congress stall and delay, and then not place Kucinich’s bills on the table? I don’t think they are happy. Most don’t know about the bills and the ones who do, although they’re not happy, don’t know what to do about it. The reason why people don’t know what to do is because not enough has been taken away from them yet, and because the real opiate of the people is television, which is an ideal tool to control people’s minds.
As far as Kucinich is concerned, he IS very brave in what he does and if he ever really does become a leading candidate his life will probably be in danger.
Carrot on a stick? If by that you mean do I think that Kucinich will change his tune if he gets elected? - no I do not. If you mean do I think the chances of Kucinich getting elected are slim? - yes I do.
So, since I think the chances of electing Kucinich are slim, why do I bother espousing his candidacy? Because to not do so is to simply give up on the idea of a peaceful resolution to this whole mess. Because although getting him elected will be difficult,it’s not impossible. Because I think we should try our hardest to elect an actual honest politician, just on principle.
jlocke,
I’m sorry for the harsh words earlier, I do understand where you’re coming from. There’s a lot of anti-american sentiment out there, and I’m ashamed to admit that it’s not, for the most part, unwarranted. I guess it just gets under my skin. We can worry about it later. After the CIA finally tracks us down for saying bad things about them “we shall meet in a place where there is no darkness.” (Probably Guantanamo, seems that’s where Miniluv is operating these days.)
Carrot on a stick –
I meant: You have to have a candidate who appeals to the likes of you and me… One who inspires in you the idea that there is a chance that the “system” could work if only the right people were in place.
I have no question that Kucinich’s intentions are genuine - I listened to a lot of what he has to say myself and respect him for his stand.
But, I’m not so sure that the “Democratic” system of election really works anymore or that it ever did, and would even go as far as to say that you could have 90% of Americans vote for him and the result would still be the same, one who is going to continue with a “Bush like” agenda - call me cynical, but I’m almost convinced that our democratic choice is a facade. It mollifies us into thinking that we do have a choice and that we can make a difference, if only enough of us vote for the right person. The system really works! Just have Faith!!! –
I believe one of your Presidents said it perfectly when he was leaving office, that there is an imperative ‘need to maintain balance in and among national programmes. Balance between the private and the public economy’. He went on further to explain that the annual expenditure on military security had exceeded the net income of all of the USA’s corporations. This includes your health care!
Basically a huge swing towards weapons manufacture.
I believe that both American & British economies are now dependant on these companies and must maintain a continual flow of “tax payers” monies to them for their respective economies to survive. The spectrum has been broadened to include not only weapons manufacture, but now with reconstruction, companies the likes of Halliburton (Cheney’s company…) etc. This goes hand in hand with the “Geo-strategy” for conquering the Middle East, in order to gain a stranglehold on our other great dependency oil (and also Opium (for keeping the people down and otherwise distracted)) another long-term cure for a faltering economy.
All of this means one of two things, either the corporations are the rulers, and the president whoever it may be, their whore puppet! – The political and legal systems, a sham placed there merely to keep people from revolting (which they would surely do if they were to realise this to be the case). The perpetual debating of political issues used in conjunction with the media, as a form of distraction and supplication.
Or the electoral system does work, and it’s just that the country and its congress have temporarily been hijacked by ruthless right-winged neo-cons.
I honestly hope that I am wrong with my “Cynical” view, and that there is a possibility that the future holds a president that will steer America away from world conflict and eliminate the corruption of corporate rule, but personally, I’ve no faith in the political process – Welcome to new world order!
From Harper’s: