| The New York Times has discovered that the CIA lied to the 9/11 Commission. For "quality control" reasons (you can't make it up), the CIA videotaped their "severe interrogation techniques."
The recordings were not provided to a federal court hearing the case of the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui or to the Sept. 11 commission, which had made formal requests to the C.I.A. for transcripts and any other documentary evidence taken from interrogations of agency prisoners.
The tapes were later destroyed to prevent their ever being viewed by the public. Now, I don't doubt that the CIA is correct that the release of these tapes would have lead to legal problems for those involved and that it would enrage Muslims (and Christians, atheists, and everyone else.) I don't even doubt that the tapes themselves were worthless, since torture does not produce reliable information. But it is clear that the CIA lied to the 9/11 Commission. Tom Kean Sr. has a responsibity to condemn this coverup, and demand an investigation and prosecution:
Daniel Marcus, a law professor at American University who served as general counsel for the Sept. 11 commission and was involved in the discussions about interviews with Al Qaeda leaders, said he had heard nothing about any tapes being destroyed.
If tapes were destroyed, he said, "it's a big deal, it's a very big deal," because it could amount to obstruction of justice to withhold evidence being sought in criminal or fact-finding investigations.
Frankly, I would like to see these Al Qaeda leaders tried under New York's and Virginia's laws and sentenced to death. But it in no way endorses Al Qaeda's actions when I warn that allowing the government to torture and lie to investigators strikes at the heart of democratic government.
Incidentally, they also lied to New Jersey representative -- and member of the House Intelligence Committee charged with overseeing them:
Representative Rush Holt of New Jersey, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, has been pushing legislation in Congress to have all detainee interrogations videotaped so officials can refer to the tapes multiple times to glean better information.
Mr. Holt said he had been told many times that the C.I.A. does not record the interrogation of detainees. "When I would ask them whether they had reviewed the tapes to better understand the intelligence, they said 'What tapes?'," he said. |
