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CIA Destroyed Tapes Despite Court Orders

Alex Constantine - December 12, 2007

By MATT APUZZO

WASHINGTON - The Bush administration was under court order not to discard evidence of detainee torture and abuse months before the CIA destroyed videotapes that revealed some of its harshest interrogation tactics.

Normally, that would force the government to defend itself against obstruction allegations. But the CIA may have an out: its clandestine network of overseas prisons.

While judges focused on the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and tried to guarantee that any evidence of detainee abuse would be preserved, the CIA was performing its toughest questioning half a world away. And by the time President Bush publicly acknowledged the secret prison system, interrogation videotapes of two terrorism suspects had been destroyed.

The CIA destroyed the tapes in November 2005. That June, U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. had ordered the Bush administration to safeguard "all evidence and information regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees now at the United States Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay."

U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler issued a nearly identical order that July.

At the time, that seemed to cover all detainees in U.S. custody. But Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the terrorism suspects whose interrogations were videotaped and then destroyed, weren't at Guantanamo Bay. They were prisoners that existed off the books — and apparently beyond the scope of the court's order.

Attorneys say that might not matter. David H. Remes, a lawyer for Yemeni citizen Mahmoad Abdah and others, asked Kennedy this week to schedule a hearing on the issue.

Though Remes acknowledged the tapes might not be covered by Kennedy's order, he said, "It is still unlawful for the government to destroy evidence, and it had every reason to believe that these interrogation records would be relevant to pending litigation concerning our client."

In legal documents filed in January 2005, Assistant Attorney General Peter D. Keisler assured Kennedy that government officials were "well aware of their obligation not to destroy evidence that may be relevant in pending litigation."

For just that reason, officials inside and outside of the CIA advised against destroying the interrogation tapes, according to a former senior intelligence official involved in the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because it is under investigation.

Exactly who signed off on the decision is unclear, but CIA director Michael Hayden told the agency in an e-mail this week that internal reviewers found the tapes were not relevant to any court case.

Remes said that decision raises questions about whether other evidence was destroyed. Abu Zubaydah's interrogation helped lead investigators to alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Remes said Abu Zubaydah may also have been questioned about other detainees. Such evidence might have been relevant in their court cases.

"It's logical to infer that the documents were destroyed in order to obstruct any inquiry into the means by which statements were obtained," Remes said.

He stopped short, however, of accusing the government of obstruction. That's just one of the legal issues that could come up in court. A judge could also raise questions about contempt of court or spoliation, a legal term for the destruction of evidence in "pending or reasonably foreseeable litigation."

Kennedy has not scheduled a hearing on the matter and the government has not filed a response to Remes' request.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071212/ap_on_go_co/cia_videotapes_courts

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  1. I always wonderd “what the fuck” is this story all about?

    The tapes could be viewed “in camera” by congress?

    The tapes may have shown waterboarding–so what? Why obstruct justice, when the issue is already before the public?

    Get the feeling that the MSM didn’t report the real story…because this isn’t about “tapes of terrorists” being tortured….nope….this is about “tapes of an involuntary chipping of a US Sen Jud Comm witness named THOMAS S. BEAN” WHO CONTACTED SEN CHARLES GRASSLEY three weeks before The NSA TSP was outed?

    THE GUY VIDEOTAPING MY APARTMENT WHERE THE ILLEGAL CHIPPING OCCURRED WHILE I WAS ASLEEP…IS A FORMER COP NAMED ROBERT DALE LILLY…who was questioned by Sioux Falls FBI agent STEVEN PLUTA, after SD US Atty MICHELLE TAPKEN got my memos to her (she was a former law school classmate of mine at Univ South Dakota).

    Her brief FED GRAND JURY was looking at my allegation in The Daschle Campaign Memo in which I pointed FBI towards the CALEA wiretapping interface at Qwest Comm.

    TAPKEN’s son…was then targeted by GOP punk stooge LARRY LONG, THE SD ATTY GEN who just happened to open a bogus crim. investigation into Tapken’s son’s car loan business (Dan Nelson automotive).

    That’s how Cheney and FBI and SD AG got dirt on Tapken…to stop her gran jury investigation into my 47 page US DOJ OIG Complaint, Daschle Campaign Memo, 6 SD State Bar Ethics complaints…etc….including Mexican Mafia Murders Affadavit…and Christina Moore Murder affadavit.

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