| Even Nixon didn't destroy the tapes! |
| Nixon battled in the Supreme Court for control of the tapes. When he lost, he relinquished them.
Granted, when they were examined, there was an 18 minute silent gap. But even Nixon didn't destroy the tapes! Where is the special prosecutor??? Would these tapes have revealed that the "intelligence" that the Bush administration used to justify the invasion of Iraq was in fact the desperate "confessions" of prisoners that were saying what they were being ordered to say by interrogators in order to stop torture sessions? As the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee in 2003, Porter J. Goss, then a Republican congressman from Florida, was among Congressional leaders who warned the C.I.A. against destroying the tapes, the former intelligence officials said. Mr. Goss became C.I.A. director in 2004 and was serving in the post when the tapes were destroyed, but was not informed in advance about Mr. Rodriguez’s decision, the former officials said. Dana Perino, the White House spokeswoman, said Friday that President Bush had “no recollection” of being made aware of the tapes’ destruction before Thursday, when General Hayden briefed him on the matter. Source: "C.I.A. Was Urged to Keep Interrogation Videotapes" - By MARK MAZZETTI - NY Times - December 8, 2007 “The C.I.A. certainly knew of our interest in getting all the information we could on the detainees, and they never indicated to us there were any videotapes,” [Sept. 11 commission co-chairman Lee] Hamilton said. “Did they obstruct our inquiry? The answer is clearly yes. Whether that amounts to a crime, others will have to judge.” [Sept. 11 commission co-chairman Thomas H.] Kean said, “I’m upset that they didn’t tell us the truth.” Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, the top Republican on the intelligence committee, sent a letter to the C.I.A., along with Representative Silvestre Reyes of Texas, chairman of the panel, saying the agency’s suggestion that the committee was told of the tapes’ destruction “simply is not true.” Source: "Congress Looks Into Obstruction as Calls for Justice Inquiry Rise" By ERIC LICHTBLAU - NY Times - December 8, 2007 [CIA Director Gen. Michael] Hayden told agency employees Thursday that the recordings were destroyed out of fear the tapes would leak and reveal the identities of interrogators. He said the sessions were videotaped to provide an added layer of legal protection for interrogators using new, harsh methods. President Bush had just authorized those methods as a way to break down the defenses of recalcitrant prisoners. White House press secretary Dana Perino said Friday that President Bush did not recall being told about the tapes or their destruction. But she could not rule out White House involvement in the decision to destroy the tapes, saying she had only asked the president about it, not others. [T]he Supreme Court ... decided in June 2006 that al-Qaida prisoners are protected by the Geneva Conventions' prohibitions on torture and cruel treatment. In November 2005 a federal judge ordered the government to disclose whether it had video or audio tapes of specific interrogations. Eleven days later, the government denied it had them. Source: "Democrats Want Probe of Tape Destruction" By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - NY Times - December 8, 2007 President Bush said ... about the state of democracy in Russia "What will the country look like 10 years from now? My hope, of course, is that Russia is a country that understands there needs to be checks and balances." Source: "Bush Faces Questions About C.I.A. Tapes" By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - December 20, 2007 |
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| Comments | Contributor | Date Submitted |
| I never thought we'd be missing the "good ol' days" of the Nixon White House! | Linda Denton |
12/14/2007 |
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