Ex-CIA official says tapes destroyed to prevent al Qaeda reprisals

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

Ex-CIA official says tapes destroyed to prevent al Qaeda reprisals
01 May 2012 01:18
Source: reuters // Reuters

By Tabassum Zakaria

WASHINGTON, April 30 (Reuters) - Jose Rodriguez said it took a "few hours" to destroy 92 videotapes showing his CIA colleagues using harsh interrogation techniques - including waterboarding - on al Qaeda leaders such as Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

But the former director of the CIA's National Clandestine Service told Reuters on Monday that he ordered the tapes destroyed to protect his colleagues from possible retaliation by al Qaeda.

The tapes of interrogations at a CIA "black site" included images of waterboarding - a form of simulated drowning - on Mohammed, Abd al Rahim al Nashiri and Abu Zubaydah, three al Qaeda leaders now held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay.

Rodriguez said he was afraid the material would be leaked.


Read more: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/ex-cia-official-says-tapes-destroyed-to-prevent-al-qaeda-reprisals

[jberryhill]

1. Well, imagine what they'd do if they got angry

Although, I thought being motivated to harm the US was never really much of a problem for Al Qaeda in the first place.

[Old and In the Way]

2. So, is Al Qaeda code for "US Public"?

Because I suspect that the real concern is allowing the US public to see what is being done in our name.

[kas125]

3. My thoughts exactly.

[freshwest]

9. Wow, they are really afraid of Americans. They should be charged for this.

I don't know what, since they aren't civilians. It would be tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, hiding classified information (hiding from their superiors maybe).

But if these were the infamous contracted mercenaries, it would just be private property of their employers, you see and they won't punish them for saving their boss being called to account for this.

[The Magistrate]

4. This, Ma'am, Is Not Just Bull-Shit, It Is Cowardly Bull-Shit

[bemildred]

13. +1.

It's not al Qaeda he's afraid of, now or then.

[solarman350]

5. Translation: We Don't Want this To Come Back to Bite Us in a Court of Law (ICC/Hague, etc.)

NewsFlash: al Qaeda has known for quite awhile that their members warehoused at CIA Black Sites and at Gitmo are repeatedly tortured. Also, they didn't need to see a video of it to know it was and is STILL happening! Now monsieur ex-CIA man, go beat yourself up until you have an epiphany and/or your morale improves.

[coalition_unwilling]

6. I am surprised that Reuters is sullying itself by publishing

such horseshit verbatim.

The really sad thing is that Rodriguez in all likelihood will never be held accountable for his crimes against humanity and war crimes. But when U.S. soldiers are taken captive by hostile forces in the future, those U.S. forces will be held accountable for Rodriguez' (and Bush's and Cheney's) crimes.

[Dragonfli]

7. That is the real tragedy of a country that holds a clas of people above the law

Those that commit atrocities pay no price for their sadism, the innocent soldiers that are captured later will face revenge for those actions instead.

I would rather a torturing maniac face his crime than an honorable soldier face the consequences instead.
It just sucks on so many levels.

I wish we could be a country that follows a rule of law that no prince or profiteer would be considered exempt from.

Why should anyone be above the law? Our country was not founded on well connected princes and military disgraces being above the law, I have read all of our founding documents and nothing in them supports a class that is above the law.

Why then, do "constitutional scholars" somehow claim that there are indeed men above the law, why then also do our courts not straighten policy makers out on this fact?

[coalition_unwilling]

12. We must hope that our future enemies show us the mercy we were

so manifestly unable to show to our foes.

Interesting little historical tidbit: during the Revolutionary War, George Washington's forces captured many Hessian mercenaries. Rather than subject them to inhumane treatment, Washington and his subordinates ordered that the Hessian captives be treated humanely. (IIRC, one result was that when the war ended, many of those self-same Hessians stayed here rather than return to a Europe that held little future for them.) I always thought that treatment of captured soldiers demonstrated Washington's character in ways that all the patriotic hoo-hah never could. But that's me.

[Ghost Dog]

8. Thomson-Reuters is a fully paid-up psy-ops

op these days, I'm very sorry to have to point out.

[coalition_unwilling]

11. I don't spend as much time following the media whores as I should. I always

thought Reuters had a rep for journalistic integrity.

Maybe that was in a prior age though.

That article makes Reuters come across purely as stenographers to power, that's for sure -- torture courtiers, if you will.

[24601]

16. The press should report what people say. They should, as they did, note who said what and let

the readers digest it for ourselves. We don't need any more filters.

edited for clarity

[truthisfreedom]

10. So they're saying they destroyed evidence to avoid prosecution.

Sounds like they're setting a good example for all Americans, mm-kay?

[ladjf]

14. That's B.S. for C.Y.A. nt

[Solly Mack]

15. I'd scream but nothing would change.