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
http://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security/waterboarding-redux-anthony-romero-takes-yoo-gonzales-over-bush-era
Aug 3rd, 2011
Posted by Tori Mends-Cole, Washington Legislative Office
Excerpt:
Right out of the gates, Romero threw down the gauntlet by saying the biggest threat to homeland security was America’s “willing abdication of her moral authority at home and abroad and the utter lawlessness of the Bush years.” That lawlessness included the “surveillance of U.S. citizens without Congressional approval or review of the judiciary; the detention of American citizens without charges or trial, apprehended on American soil as enemy combatants; the establishment of black sites where torture was committed … and the absence of ensuring accountability for crimes committed by Americans and authorized at our highest level.”
Yoo immediately went on the defensive – after all, he was a chief architect behind quite a few of those (now illegal or retracted) policies. He accused the ACLU of “blurr[ing] the rules of war,” and said the end justified the means. He insisted that “waterboarding is enhanced interrogation, not torture.” Romero had little use for such euphemisms. He fired back that Japanese soldiers were prosecuted for waterboarding U.S. soldiers as torture. Yoo replied that waterboarding was approved because less than one percent of soldiers who had gone through training using waterboarding had suffered any psychological or physical reaction. Really?
Yoo contended that the fight against terrorism should be framed as a war and that “different” rules apply during times of war, a notion Romero vehemently rejected. Romero said “this war is not like the civil war or the second World War, this war will never come to a public decisive end. We do not have established lines of the battlefield. This war will end only when we re-insert ourselves in a lawful approach to dealing with crime.”
Rafflaw,
Regarding, “I hope someone who has the information will speak out and produce the torture version of the Pentagon Papers.”
Yes… that’s my hope, as well.
Raff,
Yeah, for sure.
Bud,
I hope someone who has the information will speak out and produce the torture version of the Pentagon Papers.
No it’s not a problem, if you know that you’re eventually going to get the goods, so to speak.. But, if the needle’s been removed, what a waste of a life… 🙂
Yes a waste. Especially if you believed that we are on a level playing field..
We’re a country that’s very adept at covering up the truth — if the truth is inconvenient (or worse), to borrow from Al Gore…
Bud,
Regarding, ” Looking in the haystack isn’t so bad, except it costs a fortune in cash and time… (LOL)”
No it’s not a problem, if you know that you’re eventually going to get the goods, so to speak.. But, if the needle’s been removed, what a waste of a life… 🙂
Blouise,
As always, thanks… I’m hanging on those words… (hopefully, not literally… 🙂 )
Blouise,
Absolutely right.
That’s also what is in huge demand and little supply.
anon nurse,
Courage and perseverance in the service of your country … keep on keeping on.
anon nurse,
I think the country will unravel in the proper direction, after someone like Julian Assange, or someone else, that will be able to definitively shine light
on what really happened on 911.
Someone knows a lot and is being silenced out of fear. This one really bugs me… Why was WTC 7 purposely demolished. What was there? Who was there? Why was it demolished 30 minutes after BBC said it had been destroyed? That one just haunts me to hell…
That to me is where all of the roads, and highways, rivers and air routes lead.
That is the big bring down point.
Looking in the haystack isn’t so bad, except it costs a fortune in cash and time… (LOL)
Whistleblowers are a lot better. We can always back their stories with FOIA request too.
Bud wrote:
“It won’t stop until there is a real serious serious cause.”
—-We’re generally a crisis-oriented bunch (sadly, even tragically)… so, if I had to bet, I’d say that Bud’s right…
“I honestly believe at this time that the answer may lie with
Julian Assange..”
—-I, too, have thought so from the beginning but, to date, nothing to break the story…
“He has the goods I am sure.. He is smart enough and young enough
to be able to hold out.”
—-I hope you’re right, Bud… I’m pretty certain that they would kill him, if they could.
“I don’t think anyone else (myself included) that has serious enough information and media access to do anything.”
—-Sadly, you’re probably right, but those who know shouldn’t stop trying… There’s a fairly recent book — the author’s name escapes me at the moment — about the “twists of fate” that have changed the course of history. We need a “twist of fate”… (http://jeffgreenfield.net/pdf/THEN-EVERYTHING-CHANGED-Preface.pdf — I looked it up…)
With regards to FOIA requests, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack — a haystack that doesn’t want to give up the goods and/or has already eliminated the needle, so that it will never be found…, which leaves us reliant on whistleblowers and we know what happens to many of them…
Rafflaw and anon nurse.
That decision is a real shame.
Remember yesterday or the day before we were talking about throwing the towel, and where does this stuff stop.
It won’t stop until there is a real serious serious cause.
I honestly believe at this time that the answer may lie with
Julian Assange..
He has the goods I am sure.. He is smart enough and young enough
to be able to hold out.
I don’t think anyone else (myself included) that has serious enough information and media access to do anything.
anon nurse,
When I think of the Boogie Man, I think of the CIA. Scary stuff.
Bud,
That the world “has just become a bit more dangerous”, pretty well sums it up…
Hellerstein’s decision was a cowardly one to be sure — I have to wonder if it wasn’t rooted, at least in part, in fear…
We’re in a world of trouble…
(I revisited the CIA’s “kids pages” and found this one, complete with smiling, happy teens…
https://www.cia.gov/kids-page/6-12th-grade/operation-history/history-of-the-cia.html)
Bud,
You and anon nurse are correct that even with sanctions ordered by the judge, the CIA and the individuals involved in intentionally destroying evidence of crimes got away with murder….literally.
anon nurse,
This decision just reinforces in my mind that the CIA is above the law.
Except now, Hellerstein has proven it.
Judge Hellerstein said: “The bottom line is we are in a dangerous world.”
YES. And it has just become a bit more dangerous…
“We need our spies, we need surveillance, but we also need accountability.”
Hellerstein had his opportunity to get some accountability and he kicked the can down the road. We need an honest agency, not a lecture.
As is often the case… yesterday’s news and little to no outrage…
Thanks for the link Robin.
http://educate-yourself.org/mc/spooklandtricks19oct06.shtml
all you need to know about the cia
rafflaw,
Yes. Sad and sobering. Not one of America’s finest moments.
Thanks again for highlighting the issue which, as you rightly said, almost got lost in the debt ceiling shuffle…
Excerpt from Reuter’s article:
Although the CIA failed in not disclosing and preserving the tapes, Judge Hellerstein said: “The bottom line is we are in a dangerous world. We need our spies, we need surveillance, but we also need accountability.”
As part of that accountability, the judge on Monday asked the CIA to detail the new policies it says it has implemented since the tapes were destroyed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara La Morte, arguing for the CIA, said the CIA’s new policies were “above and beyond” what the court required and that the ACLU was “out to exact retribution on the CIA.”
“I don’t think that’s correct,” the judge interrupted.
Link and full article below:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/01/us-cia-idUSTRE77068O20110801
CIA not in contempt over interrogation tapes, judge says
By Basil Katz
NEW YORK | Mon Aug 1, 2011 7:18pm EDT
(Reuters) – A judge on Monday refused to find the CIA acted in contempt when it destroyed videotapes that showed harsh interrogations of two suspects.
U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein told a Manhattan federal court hearing that efforts by the CIA to improve how it preserves documents was enough restitution, and that it should pay legal fees to the plaintiffs, the American Civil Liberties Union.
“I don’t think a citation of contempt will add to anything,” Hellerstein said.
In December 2007, the CIA acknowledged destroying dozens of videotapes made under a detention program begun after the September 11 attacks. The interrogations, in 2002, were of alleged al Qaeda members Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.
Until 2007, the CIA had publicly denied the tapes ever existed. They were destroyed in 2005.
A probe by a special federal prosecutor last year found that no CIA personnel should face criminal charges for destroying the videotapes.
Monday’s decision came after years of legal battles between the CIA and the ACLU, which first sued the agency in 2004 to obtain documents on its treatment of prisoners.
When news of the tapes surfaced, the ACLU said the CIA and its chief spy at the time had acted in contempt of court by trashing tapes that should have been preserved under a court order following the ACLU’s Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.
By destroying the tapes, the CIA showed disrespect for the court, said Lawrence Lustberg, an attorney for the ACLU.
Although the CIA failed in not disclosing and preserving the tapes, Judge Hellerstein said: “The bottom line is we are in a dangerous world. We need our spies, we need surveillance, but we also need accountability.”
As part of that accountability, the judge on Monday asked the CIA to detail the new policies it says it has implemented since the tapes were destroyed.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tara La Morte, arguing for the CIA, said the CIA’s new policies were “above and beyond” what the court required and that the ACLU was “out to exact retribution on the CIA.”
“I don’t think that’s correct,” the judge interrupted.