CIA CHIEF TO DRAG THE WHITE HOUSE INTO TORTURE COVER-UP STORM

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 CIA's clandestine

service, is determined not to become the fall guy in the

controversy over the CIA's 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 b one of the most cautious men I

have ever met b have gone ahead and destroyed them?b

The tapes recorded the interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and

Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, two suspected Al-Qaeda leaders,

over hundreds of hours while they were held in secret

bghostb prisons. According to testimony from a former CIA

officer, Zubaydah was subjected to waterboarding, a form of

torture that simulates drowning, and bbrokeb 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 bnot looking for scapegoatsb b 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 hebs probably the least culpable

person in the process. He didn't wake up one day and

decide, bIbm 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 bpolitical b get

your own lawyerb.

He learnt his lesson and recently appointed Robert Bennett,

one of Washington's most skilled lawyers, to handle the

case of the destroyed interrogation tapes. bHe has been

starting to get his story out and was smart to get

Bennett,b 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.

bIt looks increasingly as though the decision was made by

the White House,b said Johnson. He believes it is bhighly

likelyb that Bush saw one of the videos, as he was

interested in Zubaydah's 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

Binalshibh, a September 11 conspirator, who was allegedly

handed to Jordan for questioning.

=================================================================

NY Transfer News Collective A Service of Blythe Systems

Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us

Our main website: http://www.blythe.org

List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/

Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr

=================================================================

End of forwarded message

Jai Maharaj

http://tinyurl.com/24fq83

http://www.mantra.com/jai

http://www.mantra.com/jyotish

Om Shanti

Hindu Holocaust Museum

http://www.mantra.com/holocaust

Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy

http://www.hindu.org

http://www.hindunet.org

The truth about Islam and Muslims

http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate

o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational

purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not

have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the

poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for

fair use of copyrighted works.

o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,

considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current

e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.

o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are

not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.

FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of

which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright

owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the

understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,

democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed

that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as

provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title

17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without

profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included

information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by

subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information

go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of

your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the

copyright owner.