CIA Interrogation Tapes Destroyed Shortly After News Reports on CIA Black Sites ...

[babylonsister]

http://washingtonindependent.com/68964/cia-interrogation-tapes-destroyed-shortly-after-news-reports-on-cia-black-sites-and-interrogation-methods

CIA Interrogation Tapes Destroyed Shortly After News Reports on CIA Black Sites and Interrogation Methods
By Daphne Eviatar 11/25/09 1:45 PM


Marcy Wheeler at Firedoglake has an interesting take today on the most recent summary of classified documents that the government turned over to the American Civil Liberties Union Friday, as part of its response to the organization’s Freedom of Information Act requests about the destruction of 92 videotapes of CIA interrogations. The documents reveal what Wheeler calls “a tension between the torturers in the field growing increasingly panicked about the torture tapes” and wanting the CIA to destroy them, and the reluctance, at first, of the CIA’s Office of General Counsel to do that.

The ACLU, meanwhile, has identified an important point about the chronology of the CIA’s internal communications about the tapes. Although the communications remain classified, the dates and summaries of their content provided by the government reveals that a request to destroy the 92 tapes were made just days after The Washington Post reported on the existence of secret overseas CIA prisons known as “black sites.” Another request was made on the day The New York Times reported that the CIA inspector general had issued a report questioning the legality of the agency’s interrogation methods.

The tapes were destroyed that same day.

[Echo In Light]

1. Golly....

[WhiteTara]

8. remember the big smokey fire in Cheney's

office. Do those dates coincide? December 19, 2007
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5idGyK9KJQVCH8yz4Bn-s_TPYt5AQ

[KansDem]

2. Do you really think they were "destroyed?"

Maybe they're being kept in Cheney's undisclosed location, since the former resident no longer uses it...

But I doubt seriously if they were "destroyed." This is, after all, the CIA.

[Raster]

3. Good point! NOTHING is ever really *destroyed*. There might be a use for it later.

[WhiteTara]

9. oops...responded to your post

in the previous post...but do you remember the smokey fire in Cheney's office? 12-19-07
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5idGyK9KJQVCH8yz4Bn-s_TPYt5AQ

[Echo In Light]

10. Like when FAA Managers "destroyed" communications tape on 9/11

[Uncle Joe]

4. I wonder why were the

"torturers in the field" getting nervous; because of method, due to content or both?

Thanks for the thread, babylonsister.:thumbsup:

[babylonsister]

5. I bet both, Uncle Joe.

And Happy Thanksgiving to you! :hi:

[Uncle Joe]

6. Likewise babyonsister, to you and your family as well.

:hi:

[rucky]

7. More details from the ACLU (including dates)...

http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/new-details-about-destroyed-torture-tapes

Last Friday, we got a list, called a Vaughn index, of records related to the CIA's destruction of videotapes that showed the torture and abusive interrogation of detainees in U.S. custody overseas. Among the most interesting revelations in the index are the precise date the tapes were destroyed, and evidence that the Bush White House was involved in early discussions about the tapes' destruction.

Listed in the index released late last week are a November 8, 2005, cable from a CIA field office to CIA headquarters requesting permission to destroy the 92 tapes, and a November 9, 2005, cable confirming their destruction. The precise date of destruction confirms that the tapes were destroyed immediately after the Washington Post reported the existence of the CIA black sites and the New York Times reported that the CIA Inspector General had questioned the legality of the agency’s torture program.

The index also lists the earliest known record of White House participation in discussions about destroying the tapes — an email dated February 22, 2003, revealing that CIA officials met with Bush administration officials to discuss how the agency should respond to a letter from Representative Jane Harman (D-Calif.) advising the agency not to destroy the tapes (PDF). While it was known previously that the White House participated in discussions about the disposition of the tapes, this is the earliest record to date of any such discussions.