Submitted by Lawrence Rafferty-Guest Blogger
Since we have been all so absorbed by the ongoing political saga involving the imaginary debt ceiling crisis, I thought it would be therapeutic to discuss something totally unrelated to that nonsense. As you will recall, the CIA destroyed hundreds of hours of video tape documentation of the infamous CIA Torture Program during the last Administration. “Despite a court order, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) destroyed hundreds of hours of video tape showing the alleged torture of two terror detainees, and now the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is asking a New York judge to punish them for it. In a case being heard Monday, attorneys for the ACLU will argue that the agency, and former deputy director Jose Rodriguez in particular, should be held in contempt of an order to preserve records responsive to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in 2004.
“The record indicates that far from an innocent mistake, Rodriguez ordered the tapes destroyed to cover up evidence that ‘would make us look terrible’ and be ‘devastating’ to the CIA,” the ACLU’s filing (PDF) argues, quoting Rodriguez emails obtained through FOIA requests. “Indeed, Rodriguez weighed the ‘heat’ that would come from destroying the documents and concluded that it ‘is nothing compared to what it would be if the tapes ever go into public domain.'”
As many as 92 tapes of terror war captives being tortured by CIA operatives were allegedly destroyed. Officials suggested these recordings depicted torture sessions with terrorism suspects Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Nashiri. Along with the tapes, detailed records of the CIA’s so-called “torture flights,” showing the planes, destinations and even the passengers, were also said destroyed.” Raw Story
Now, I may be a little slow, but I hardly think that the CIA “accidentally” destroyed a treasure trove of incriminating evidence after being ordered to protect all evidence by a Federal Judge. Here is a link to the full ACLU contempt filing: ACLU As the quoted CIA emails state, the former Deputy Director was obviously worried about what would happen if the American public ever saw the damaging evidence that the judge had ordered to be preserved. It sounds logical that Mr. Rodriguez and the CIA made a “Ford Pinto” type of decision that they would rather deal with the courts than the American public.
What does this situation tell us about the state of our Democracy, when an agency of the Federal Government appears to have intentionally disobeyed a court order, just to save their own skin? What does it tell us about our Democracy when the Justice Department refuses to hold anyone responsible for torture that has been illegal for decades?
It has been almost seven (7) years since this FOIA request and almost four (4) years since the CIA admitted to destroying the protected records. Should the former Deputy Director be held responsible and should higher-ups be included to deter law breaking in the future? If the court doesn’t order the CIA and its officials to pay damages, will any agency ever fear a court decision or order again? I know what you may be thinking. A lot of questions, but no answers. Let’s hear your answers!
Respectfully submitted by Lawrence Rafferty-Guest Blogger
Bud 1, August 1, 2011 at 9:26 pm
Blouise,
Sort of like. He serves at their pleasure.
==============
That he does, it would seem.
Bud 1, August 1, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Blouise,
When these people are so powerful and they are the problem,
the question is how do you rid the country of them??
Impossible..
==============
Maybe, but what’s the alternative… Should we just throw in the towel?
(There’s an interesting BBC documentary streaming on Netflix: Italian Fascism in Color… Ought to be mandatory in our schools…)
anon nurse,
I agree that the CIA should be reeled in. I agree.
But like Blouise says… Who is strong enough
or what politician has the will to do it?
I honestly don’t think with the direction this country
is going — I mean full Fascism, that anyone in their
right mind would even attempt it…
🙂 Thanks for the needed laugh, rafflaw. (Whitey Bulger “signed up” when he was in prison years ago, I believe… )
Blouise,
Sort of like. He serves at their pleasure.
If he wants to serve at all.
Anon nurse,
Free LSD? Where do you sign up? 🙂
What we have today is what happens when we don’t hold those in government accountable. MKULTRA was never fully investigated. The agency was never held accountable in any substantial way. We know only a fraction of what transpired, because documents were destroyed.
Covert and unlawful activities continue to this day. On American soil. Fact.
The 178 page report is an eye-opener:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/ProjectMKULTRA_Senate_Report.pdf
Project MKULTRA was first brought to wide public attention in 1975 by the U.S. Congress, through investigations by the Church Committee, and by a presidential commission known as the Rockefeller Commission.
Investigative efforts were hampered by the fact that CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKULTRA files destroyed in 1973; the Church Committee and Rockefeller Commission investigations relied on the sworn testimony of direct participants and on the relatively small number of documents that survived Helms’ destruction order.[6]
In 1977, a FOIA request uncovered a cache of 20,000 documents[7] relating to project MKULTRA, which led to the Senate Hearings of 1977.[2] In recent times most information regarding MKULTRA has been officially declassified.
Although the CIA insists that MKULTRA-type experiments have been abandoned, 14-year CIA veteran Victor Marchetti has stated in various interviews that the CIA routinely conducts disinformation campaigns and that CIA mind control research continued. In a 1977 interview, Marchetti specifically called the CIA claim that MKULTRA was abandoned a “cover story.”[8][9]
On the Senate floor in 1977, Senator Ted Kennedy said:
The Deputy Director of the CIA revealed that over thirty universities and institutions were involved in an “extensive testing and experimentation” program which included covert drug tests on unwitting citizens “at all social levels, high and low, native Americans and foreign.” Several of these tests involved the administration of LSD to “unwitting subjects in social situations.” At least one death, that of Dr. Olson, resulted from these activities. The Agency itself acknowledged that these tests made little scientific sense. The agents doing the monitoring were not qualified scientific observers.[10]
Well heck. George Bush hasn’t been called to account so why should anything or anybody else from his administration have to answer?
Anon nurse,
Thanks for the answers!
Bud,
You’re right … it would take one very determined and powerful Executive to bring the CIA back into line. What are the odds of that happening?
I’ve often wondered what goes through a new president’s mind when he realizes that the CIA is not a tool on his belt but rather, he is one on theirs? Gotta be a pretty scary wake-up call.
It’s not the first time that the CIA has purposely destroyed evidence. That’s what they do with evidence that is damning. They have a rich history of covering up their dirty work and there seems to be a lot of it.
There are some terrible things going on domestically (though the CIA is not supposed to be involved in domestic operations)…, but these operations are covert, for now, and many good Americans have no idea… (There is multi-agency involvement in the activities to which I’m alluding.)
We need to hold these people accountable. Destroy evidence? Go to jail. Hide evidence? Go to jail. Participate in state-sanctioned, intelligence agency-directed activities that runs counter to the rule of law and the Constitution. Go to jail. Fail to report wrongdoing. Go to jail. Participate in covering up these activities. Go directly to jail.
I’m so sick of what I know is going on in America… Every day, it sucks a little more life out of me.
Here’s a past example of the CIA’s duplicity:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKULTRA
“In 1973 CIA Director Richard Helms ordered all MKULTRA files destroyed. Pursuant to this order, most CIA documents regarding the project were destroyed, making a full investigation of MKULTRA impossible. A cache of some 20,000 documents survived Helms’ purge, as they had been incorrectly stored in a financial record building and were discovered following a FOIA request in 1977. These documents were fully investigated during the Senate Hearings of 1977.[2]”
“Because most MKULTRA records were deliberately destroyed in 1973 by order of then CIA director Richard Helms, it has been difficult, if not impossible, for investigators to gain a complete understanding of the more than 150 individually funded research sub-projects sponsored by MKULTRA and related CIA programs.[19]”
Some say that MKULTRA continues to this day. The Senate hearing documents are available for anyone who cares to read them, but many Americans have never even heard of MKULTRA.
———————-
Thanks for this article, rafflaw. Coincidentally, I spent the better part of the day working on FOIA requests. Answers to your questions:
Should the former Deputy Director be held responsible and should higher-ups be included to deter law breaking in the future?
Yes.
If the court doesn’t order the CIA and its officials to pay damages, will any agency ever fear a court decision or order again?
No.
The CIA should be held in contempt. There were Senate hearings regarding MKULTRA, but there was little accountability and look where we are today.
Nothing will happen, of course.
If the American public only knew… If only…
lottakatz 1, August 1, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Good point. They don’t have to obey.
I don’t agree that being a good German went out the window with Nuremberg…
It is alive and well right here.
It only went out the window for those that got caught.
Karl Rove is till walking around. Same with Bush and Cheney.
Blouise,
You’re right.
They are either the solution or the problem..
When these people are so powerful and they are the problem,
the question is how do you rid the country of them??
Impossible..
The folks in charge of the illegal destruction should be in jail, sharing a cell with the traitorous bastard Ollie North. Oh, wait…. never mind.
What Kenergy599 said.
Bud: “They have to obey… period..”
No they don’t. No one has to obey, one only has to be prepared to pay the price of their refusal. Being a “good German” as a moral or practical defense went out with the Nuremberg Trials.
Bud,
They’ve only been in existence since WW II (I think I’m right about that) and look at what they’ve done to us.
With all their so called skills … 9/11 still happened … they talk a good game but when it really counted, they were nowhere to be found.
rafflaw,
Remember the 18 ½ minute gap in one of the Nixon tapes? Do you remember Nixon’s secretary Rosemary Woods who supposedly “mistakenly erased” a segment of that tape? It was all her fault, doncha know!
Bill Horwitz – If I Had a Friend Like Rosemary Woods
Blouise,
In absolute all fairness to them – They do have one wicked job to do. I would never want to ever be any part of that organization. Can you honestly imagine what they must be told to do on a daily basis??? How about a president that does send them out to assassinate someone. What if that person turned out to be like (just for example only) Julian Assange…
They have to obey… period..
Makes me sick to think about it.
The CIA has done as much as any agency to harm the reputation of the USA around the world.
They are in on the insanity that is spreading like wildfire.
Bud,
You got that exactly right.
Since they don’t get to enforce any laws I guess they figure they don’t have to obey any either.
In a Fascist country, agencies like the CIA ,NSA,TSA and FBI are above the law. They are accountable to no one.
Hey Raff,
Hate to give you the big news, but I think their above the law… NO?
If the President orders them to kill someone, I think they pretty much have to do it… I don’t think they let pesky details like destroying evidence get in the way… And if some other agency comes after one of them, they just disappear quietly and safely and have the protection of that agency to keep them hidden.