CIA's destruction of tapes likely to spur lawsuits

US detainees who had challenged the agency's harsh interrogations may claim obstruction of justice, attorneys say.

from the December 8, 2007 edition

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Destruction of the tapes took place in 2005, said Hayden. According to the Washington Post, the move was ordered by Jose Rodriguez, who then headed the CIA's clandestine operations branch.

One of the taped detainees was identified as Abu Zubaydah, a close associate of Osama bin Laden who was captured in March 2002 in Faisalabad, Pakistan, following a firefight in which he was wounded three times. News reports have indicated that Mr. Zubaydah is one of the three detainees thought to have been subjected to the harsh technique known as waterboarding.

The tapes were made as an internal check on the interrogation program in its early stages, and a "backstop" to other methods of recording the information obtained, according to Hayden. House and Senate intelligence committee leaders were informed of the existence of the tapes and the CIA's intention to destroy them, said the CIA director.

Senate Intelligence Chairman John Rockefeller (D) of West Virginia said in a statement that he had been provided with "very limited" information about the tapes, and that he did not learn about their destruction until after it had occurred. He called for a full inquiry into the matter.

In a statement, Rep. Jane Harman (D) of California, who was the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee when informed of the tapes' existence in 2003, said: "I told the CIA that destroying videotapes of interrogations was a bad idea and urged them in writing not to do it."

In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin of Illinois also urged an investigation into whether the tapes' destruction constituted an act of obstruction of justice. "Due to the gravity of this matter, I request that you respond as soon as possible, and in no case later than Wednesday, December 12," wrote Senator Durbin.

Meanwhile, in remarks on the Senate floor, Sen. Edward Kennedy (D) of Massachusetts accused the CIA of a coverup and reached back into the past, to the days of Watergate, for a comparison. "We haven't seen anything like this since the eighteen-and-a-half minute gap in the tapes of President Richard Nixon," he said.

Whether the destruction of the tapes was illegal might hinge on exactly when it occurred. If any legal actions challenging the interrogation practices had already started, then withholding the tapes, much less destroying them, might be counted an obstruction of justice.

And at least one such effort may, indeed, have been under way: Beginning in 2003, attorneys for Al Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui began seeking video- and audiotapes of interrogations they thought might prove their client was innocent of planning the 9/11 attacks.

•Associated Press material was used in this report.

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