CIA's destruction of terror tapes probed

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/...135285851.html

Mark Mazzetti, Washington
December 10, 2007
Advertisement

THE US Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog have begun a preliminary inquiry into the spy agency's destruction of hundreds of hours of videotapes showing interrogations of top al-Qaeda operatives.

The announcement comes amid new questions about which officials inside the CIA were involved in the decision to destroy the videotapes, which showed severe interrogation methods used on two al-Qaeda suspects, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

The agency operative who ordered the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was Jose Rodriguez, then chief of the CIA's national clandestine service.

A government official who spoke recently with Mr Rodriguez said the spy chief told him he had received approval from lawyers inside the clandestine service to destroy the tapes.

This disclosure could broaden the scope of the inquiry into the tapes' destruction.

Several officials said top lawyers at the White House and the Justice Department advised the CIA in 2003 not to destroy the videos.

Current and former intelligence officials said the agency's senior lawyer, John Rizzo, had not been notified about the decision and was angered to learn about the destruction of the tapes, which could complicate the prosecution of Abu Zubaydah and others.

Investigators will gather facts to determine whether a full inquiry is warranted. If it is determined that any agency employee broke the law, the standard procedure would be for the inspector-general to issue a criminal referral to the Justice Department.

The investigation comes after the Senate and House intelligence committees started their own investigations into the destruction of the tapes.

Officials have acknowledged that the destruction of evidence such as the videotaped interrogations could raise questions about whether the CIA was seeking to hide vital evidence of coercion.

A review of records from military tribunals indicates that five lower-level detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, were initially charged with offences based on information provided by or related to Abu Zubaydah.

Military defence lawyers said the fact that interrogation tapes were destroyed could provide a way to challenge other cases that may be based on information from Abu Zubaydah, though such challenges would face major legal obstacles under rules for military prosecutions.

The destruction of the tapes has intensified the focus on Abu Zubaydah, who was captured in March 2002.

As one of the first close associates of Osama bin Laden to be caught after the September 11 attacks, he became a test case on which the CIA built and then adjusted its program of aggressive interrogations and overseas secret jails.