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Ex-CIA Official May Refuse To Testify About Videotapes
A former CIA official at the center of the controversy over destroyed interrogation videotapes has been blocked by Justice Department officials from gaining access to government records about the incident, according to sources familiar with the case.
The former official, Jose Rodriguez Jr., has also told the House intelligence committee through a letter from his attorney that he will refuse to testify next week about the tapes unless he is granted immunity from prosecution for his statements, the sources said.
The panel has issued a subpoena for Rodriguez, the former chief of clandestine operations who issued the order to destroy the videotapes in 2005. He and other former CIA officials are also being blocked from gaining access to documents about the incident, sources said.
The fast-paced maneuvering comes as part of an escalating, three-way confrontation between Congress, the Justice Department and a group of former CIA officials involved in the decision to destroy the videotapes, which showed the use of harsh interrogation tactics on two suspected al-Qaeda operatives in 2002.
Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey announced last week that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into the tapes' destruction, even as lawmakers vowed to continue pursuing their own inquiries into the episode. Former CIA officials have begun seeking outside counsel and some, including former CIA director George J. Tenet, have hired attorneys to represent them, sources say.
In a related development yesterday, a federal judge in Washington declined to intervene in the CIA tapes case, saying that there is no evidence the Bush administration defied court orders and that Justice Department prosecutors should be allowed to proceed with their own investigation.
U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. said in a three-page ruling that a group of inmates held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, "offer nothing to support their assertion that a judicial inquiry" is necessary into the tape destruction. He said neither of the detainees whose interrogations were taped and later destroyed has an apparent connection to the prisoners who were demanding the review.
Kennedy also wrote that he expects the Justice Department "will follow the facts wherever they may lead and live up to the assurances it made to this court."
The CIA disclosed last month that it had destroyed hundreds of hours of CIA videotape showing coercive interrogation tactics used on two senior al-Qaeda suspects: Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein, known as Abu Zubaida, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri. CIA Director Michael V. Hayden said the tapes had been destroyed to protect the identities of interrogators, but other CIA officials have said they were destroyed to protect the interrogators from potential prosecution.
Rodriguez's attorney, Robert S. Bennett, declined to comment yesterday on details about his client's case or on any communications he has had with Congress.
"Unless there is an agreement of some kind, he has to show up," Bennett said of Rodriguez. "His options are to testify or not testify. That's all I can say at this point."
A Justice Department spokesman declined to comment on the ongoing investigation, which is being headed by John Durham, a longtime career prosecutor from Connecticut.
Congressional aides said the House intelligence committee's chairman, Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-Tex.), and other lawmakers have not begun discussing how to respond to Bennett's immunity request for Rodriguez.
Committee staffers in recent weeks have begun sifting through several hundred pages of internal documents related to the case, which has been gathered together at CIA headquarters in Langley and made available for classified review.
But sources close to the case say that Rodriguez and other former officials are not being granted access to the same files. Most defense attorneys would advise a client against testifying or cooperating with a congressional investigation without access to such documents, according to sources and legal experts.
Several other current and former CIA officers also have sought outside legal help, fearing that they may be eventually become entangled in the tapes controversy. Roy Krieger, a Washington attorney who specializes in intelligence cases, says he has been approached by two officers and has heard from others of a growing nervousness in the intelligence community.
"They are very scared because of the depth and breadth of the investigation," Krieger said.
He added that the prospect of massive legal bills -- many CIA officers lack legal insurance -- is equally frightening to some. "They're looking at second mortgages and dipping into college education funds to pay the bills," Krieger said.
Staff researcher Julie Tate contributed to this report.
© 2008 The Washington Post
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62 Comments so far
Show Allmoonraven, some might refer to that as "eating their words," while others might simply call it "adjusting to change." I prefer the latter, and wish our president would suck it up and adjust to reality as well.
Paul I've noticed this also.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4315024059102108031
Give him full immunity. Give him a new Lexus and a box of chocolate covered cherries and a year's supply of Viagra. We want him to spill the beans, because when he does, both Cheney and Bush will be impeached. He knows where the dirt has been hidden and there is a ton of it he will reveal and the fun will begin.
Of course I can now see Congressman Conyers refuse to grant immunity, and spoil the fun once again.
Above the law! And, you can't do anything about it!
send him to guantanamo, f#@*& bastard!!!
That won't help having Cheney/Bush impeached ALDO.
If Congress hurries up and gives him immunity from prosecution, at least, there's a chance the misdeeds will be known to the American people. Otherwise, it may be just "looked into" and subsequently dropped, once he's pardoned next January.
He is going to need more than immunity from prosecution. He will need a large entourage to prevent assassination.
Hi CLAUDIUS, you must believe he has a lot of things to tell also? He'd better cover his backside.
Hi Kem Patrick,
Yes, he had better cover his backside. Anyone going up against the CIA or Bush Admin. had better have a large entourage. Witness protection will be far too inadequate for him.
I hope these CIA officials, who are facing uncertain futures, aren't some of the same CIA officials who did nothing when Valerie Plame Wilson faced an uncertain future; today, she may have the ear of the public they wish they had.
She's getting even, Rodriguez was a good friend of hers.
Yeah - Give him immunity if that is what it takes to get the ball rolling.
and furthermore, lets start talking about "reparations" if that is what Conyers wants. I want that too. What does Conyers want? I sent him an e-mail, but never heard a thing back....
It's a perfect opportunity to test the value of the CIA's "strenuous" interrogation techniques. After all, Rodriquez swears waterboarding does the job, right?
They need only a little bit Waterboarding
Wow. Finally, some evidence of checks and balances in government! I'm shocked. It's CIA vs. Bush Crime Family + DOJ.
Did I get the formula down right? We know this Kangaroo Kongress is not really part of the equation. Waxman will, once again, slip around on the house floor pretending to discover things and then, ultimately, do nothing (like he always does.) Polosi will have that blank stare into space; "the nursing home stare." (just like Marsha Clark did during the O.J. trial) and, ultimately, do nothing (like she always does.)
Maybe you guys are right. Maybe it all comes down to who has the best blackmailers and the best assassins.
Good job neocons, you finally succeeded in turning the USA into a third world banana republic!
If Rodriguez refuses to testify, waterboard him!
I predict that they WON'T give him immunity, because they DON'T want to impeach Bush and Cheney. They are too afraid of what impeachment of Bush and Cheney might do to their political careers and to the future of the Democratic Party.
If the information that Rodriguez has ever gets out, Congress will HAVE to initiate impeachment proceedings. They won't be able to hem and haw anymore, they won't be able to float out all these ridiculous excuses for non-action that we've been listening to now for over a year. And they're too afraid of any blowback from impeachment that might result in their not being able to retain their House seats.
God help us.
"Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey announced last week that the Justice Department had opened a criminal investigation into the tapes' destruction, even as lawmakers vowed to continue pursuing their own inquiries into the episode."
I feel so much better now. Mukasey-to-the-rescue!
Life is just wonderful when you have a two-party system acting as one......this is true bipartisanship!
My toilet bowl is now calling me.....
pacplyer January 10th, 2008 6:45 pm
YOU ARE COMPLETELY WRONG ABOUT NANCY PELOSI!!!
She will do something! She will do her best to assist in the cover up!
Do you really think this rat is going to say anything in public hearings? Impeach before cheney starts another war.
pacplyer
"Wow. Finally, some evidence of checks and balances in government! I'm shocked. It's CIA vs. Bush Crime Family + DOJ."
"Good job neocons, you finally succeeded in turning the USA into a third world banana republic!"
They've been running the us like a banana republic longer than you may think.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4315024059102108031
Look at all the roaches scurrying for cover and lawyering up. Hey, if you didn't do anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. Right? That's what my pResident has told me.
Feel The Love; The Telecom Love.
Wiretaps Are Cut Over Unpaid Bills
By Dan Eggen
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 11, 2008; Page A15
"Telecommunications companies have repeatedly cut off FBI access to wiretaps of alleged terrorists and criminal suspects because the bureau did not pay its phone bills, according to the results of an audit released yesterday."
""Late payments have resulted in telecommunications carriers actually disconnecting phone lines established to deliver surveillance results to the FBI, resulting in lost evidence," Fine said in a seven-page summary of the audit's findings."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/10/AR2008011001879.html?hpid=topnews
Let's just give him an all-expense-paid trip for one to Islamabad.
LINDS S, I have a sick feeling you are correct. We'll see. I have a theory: The CIA is going to even the score for Cheney outing Valorie Plame and attempting to discredit her hubby Joe Wilson. You know, there is a clique there and Cheney, Rove and Bush are not in it. It is not a smart thng to piss off a woman like that, she has many poweful friends. There is a power struggle going on in Washington and if Rodriguez testifies, the fit is gonna hit the shan and impeachment will be on the table.
If it is just up to Conyers to grant immunity, we're in trouble. If it's a vote by the Judicary Committee, we may have our fondest dreams realized. I don't know how that works.
Got any cartoonists out there? Here's a freebe:
Scene: cold block room w/single light bulb. CIA "interegation" room. An Arab being waterboarded. The agent pouring the water says, "OK, Abdul, I'm gonna ask you one more time—Who set up 9/11?". Abdul: "blubDickblubblub blubCheneyblubblub". Second agent with a clip board, to a third agent: "Eh, that's what they all say the first few times…".
The little mouse in the corner says, "Must be a conspiracy"….
If you can draw it ,you can have it.
Cheers
Hay, you fellas who replied to PACPLAYER, he's one of the sharpest guys who blogs here at CD, he knows the score.
Kem,
It's even worse than pacplayer suggests because the problem persists after these people are out of office. The next administration comes in, and the first job is janitorial: sweep everything under the rug.
Every administration in my lifetime has a tradition of ignoring outgoing issues. They come back like a bad penny later on. We've certainly not heard the last of Rove, Gonzales, Rumsfeld, etc. When Obama or Hillary ignore them, we'll be reminded again in 4 or 8 years when they come back, or when all sorts of extra-democratic hanky-panky (e.g. Iran/Contra) just sort of goes on behind the scenes.
Ya think Cheney's battery will hold out for eight years?
Yep PAUL, if Edwards is out of it, nothing will change, __ nothing. If Edwards gets in, he will have a hard time changing things, but he has the knowledge of how to fight and knows how to fight when it gets dirty. I fear he is out of it, for right now anyway. The press won't give him the time of day.
W has dissed the CIA so much, if this fellow does talk, he won't be going up against the CIA, but W and his neo cons will. Just think W blaming the CIA for 9/11 by saying it was the intelligence community's fault, W sanctioning the outing of a covert CIA employee, and W blaming the CIA for not finding WMD in Iraq.
Why is noone paying attention?
Impeachment is off the table folks, or havent you been listening? Pelosi and Reid have granted immunity to Bush/Cheney no matter what future revelations may surface.
"If Congress hurries up and gives him immunity from prosecution, at least, there's a chance the misdeeds will be known to the American people."
And the American people won't care. Bush, Cheney, and much of their cabinet are war criminals, and it troubles most Americans very little, if at all.
Immunity is paramount to getting at the truth.
ARDEE, it's off the table, but if Rodriguez testifies, it will be ON the table. We'll see if he does spill the beans, a lot of beans to spill too.
There's a problem with putting Rodriguez in jail? Failure to comply is failure to comply, isn't it? It's just that simple. Slam his arse into a jail cell. That's how that goes.
… and putting in the next President to pardon
the inferior shrub is of a penultimate paramount,
with a cherry on top …
Loss of pension and benefits would be a big deterrent and stop other higher ups from doing something they know is not right. I'll contact my "doing nothing" representatives on how I feel about this.
And the shit hit the FAN.
PacPlyr: I don't think the formula is CIA v. Bush Crime Family + DOJ. The Bush's are in league with the CIA!! Good god, that relationship dates back to Grandpa Prescott and his support for the Nazis and bringing their SS back to create the CIA.
Nope. The formula is different. If the article is right in saying, "The CIA disclosed last month that it had destroyed hundreds of hours of CIA videotape showing coercive interrogation tactics used on two senior al-Qaeda suspects ..."
Why would the CIA disclose the destruction of its own incriminating evidence? What does the CIA gain from doing that?
Any takers on that question?
For now, it's just the magician's trick of false flag direction, look over here at my shapely assistants …
Every lie is surrounded by an enigma, wrapped in a corundum, twisted through n-partial dimensions of plausible deniability, and then passed through the intestines of a constipated wombat.
Well some are actually true, so as to even more mislead one, but those are immediately suspected as untrue by very credible authorities.
KEM PATRICK January 10th, 2008 11:11 pm
"Ya think Cheney's battery will hold out for eight years?"
Not if we all surround the White House carrying gigantic magnets.
iowairish ..
Some of each; some complicit, some not.
Some complicit in one way while not in another.
"Every lie is surrounded by an enigma, wrapped in a corundum, twisted through n-partial dimensions of plausible deniability, and then passed through the intestines of a constipated wombat." (nspire)
HA, HA, Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HA!
iowairish ..
Oversight may have discovered it. (?)
or
Bush payback for NIE. (?)
or
Distraction from telecom immunity. (?)
or
...
NSPIRE If you aren't writing for a living, you have missed your calling.
KEM & DREAMER TOO -- Thank you. It's a hobby that may someday make me … something … if I could ever figure it out.
I usually feel that "my expression" of my thoughts are hardly my own, with so many synthesized and blended amalgams of others' crashing around, like Dilbert (with all of those rat-like animals). But then, I have also read that Shakespeare was the collective vacuum cleaner of his times, piecing together what perhaps thousands had labored upon over as many years. Regardless of "true" source, we can enjoy the captured beauty, as long as the shylocks are held at bay.
I googled "surrounded by an enigma" and got ~ 200 references, some along with paradox, riddle, mystery, corundum, or adventure - but none easily found that I recall as the initial grist for my mill (the fantastic English cryptographic master from WWII who cracked the German enigma code, perhaps).
Jose Rodriguez will have to testify. I am sure that he is aware that if he is sent to prison for not testifying, that he will never come out alive.