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CIA chief to drag White House into torture cover-up storm
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
The Times of London - Dec 23, 2007
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article3087293.ece
CIA chief to drag White House into torture cover-up storm
by Sarah Baxter
THE CIA chief who ordered the destruction of secret videotapes
recording the harsh interrogation of two top Al-Qaeda suspects has
indicated he may seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for
testifying before the House intelligence committee.
Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIAs clandestine service, is
determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy over the CIAs
use of torture, according to intelligence sources.
It has emerged that at least four White House staff were approached for
advice about the tapes, including David Addington, a senior aide to
Dick Cheney, the vice-president, but none has admitted to recommending
their destruction.
Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism at the CIA, said
it was impossible for Rodriguez to have acted on his own: If everybody
was against the decision, why in the world would Jose Rodriguez " one
of the most cautious men I have ever met " have gone ahead and
destroyed them?
The tapes recorded the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim
al-Na****ri, two suspected Al-Qaeda leaders, over hundreds of hours
while they were held in secret ghost prisons. According to testimony
from a former CIA officer, Zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding, a
form of torture that simulates drowning, and broke after 35 seconds.
He is believed to have been interrogated in Thailand. The tapes were
destroyed in 2005. Both men are now held in Guantanamo Bay.
The House intelligence committee has subpoenaed Rodriguez to appear for
a hearing on January 16. Last week the CIA began opening its files to
congressional investigators. Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat who is
chairing the committee, has said he was not looking for scapegoats "
a hint to Rodriguez that he would like him to talk.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer, believes the scandal could reach
deep into the White House. The CIA and Jose Rodriguez look bad, but
hes probably the least culpable person in the process. He didnt wake
up one day and decide, ~Im going to destroy these tapes. He checked
with a lot of people and eventually he is going to get his say.
Johnson says Rodriguez got his fingers burnt during the Iran-contra
scandal while working for the CIA in Latin America in the 1980s. Even
then he sought authorisation from senior officials. But when summoned
to the FBI for questioning, he was told Iran-contra was political "
get your own lawyer.
He learnt his lesson and recently appointed Robert Bennett, one of
Wa****ngtons most skilled lawyers, to handle the case of the destroyed
interrogation tapes. He has been starting to get his story out and was
smart to get Bennett, said Johnson.
The Justice Department has launched its own inquiry into the
destruction of the tapes. It emerged yesterday that the CIA had misled
members of the 9-11 Commission by not disclosing the existence of the
tapes, in potential violation of the law. President George W Bush said
last week he could not recall learning about the tapes before being
briefed about them on December 6 by Michael Hayden, the CIA director.
It looks increasingly as though the decision was made by the White
House, said Johnson. He believes it is highly likely that Bush saw
one of the videos, as he was interested in Zubaydahs case and received
frequent updates on his interrogation from George Tenet, the CIA
director at the time.
It has emerged that the CIA did preserve two videotapes and an
audiotape of detainee interrogations conducted by a foreign government,
which may have been relevant to the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui, the
Al-Qaeda conspirator.
The CIA told a federal judge in 2003 that no such recordings existed
but has now retracted that testimony. One of the tapes could show the
interrogation of Ramzi Binal****bh, a September 11 conspirator, who was
allegedly handed to Jordan for questioning.
*
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