N.Y. Times: CIA Destroyed al-Qaida Suspect Interrogation Tapes
Updated: Apparently seeking to avoid Congressional scrutiny and lessen the risk of legal repercussions against agents involved, the CIA reportedly destroyed in 2005 at least two videotapes that showed al-Qaida suspects in CIA custody being harshly interrogated.
The CIA also was concerned that the recordings of the 2002 interrogations, if they became public, could put at risk of retaliation the agents involved and their families, writes the New York Times. The tapes were destroyed at a time when Congress, a presidentially appointed commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and some courts were seeking such information.
“The existence and subsequent destruction of the tapes are likely to reignite the debate over the use of severe interrogation techniques on terror suspects, and their destruction raises questions about whether CIA officials withheld information from the courts and from the Sept. 11 commission appointed by President Bush and Congress,” the article states. “It was not clear who within the CIA authorized the destruction of the tapes, but current and former government officials said it had been approved at the highest levels of the agency.”
Washington Post: “CIA Destroyed Tapes of Harsh Interrogations.”
Updated at 5:48 p.m. CST.
