.

ad test

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The First Shoe Drops on Torture………

Remember the torture tapes that the CIA had destroyed on the watch of Porter Goss, the most corrupt CIA chief ever?

Well, some of the tapes missed the degausser:

The interrogation of Ramzi Binalshibh, a key figure in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was recorded several times while he was being questioned in Morocco by local intelligence officers, according to a U.S. official. The disclosure resolves a mystery over what are thought to be the only existing recordings from the CIA's secret detention program.

The two videotapes and an audiotape do not show any use of what the CIA has called "enhanced interrogation techniques," the official said. Human rights groups have described the CIA's methods as torture.

"The tapes, which were made and found years ago, show a guy sitting at a desk answering questions," said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of ongoing investigations.

Still, the disclosure adds a new wrinkle to the public understanding of the documentation of the CIA's detention and interrogation program.

The destruction of 92 videotapes depicting the harsh interrogation and confinement of senior al-Qaeda figures at CIA secret prisons around the world is the subject of a criminal probe. Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., the former head of the directorate of operations at the agency, issued an order to destroy the recordings in November 2005 as the CIA's detention and interrogation program came under intense public and congressional scrutiny.
There are likely more tapes out there, and I would hope that the good (i.e. not-torturer) CIA agents who know where they are will get them to people who will do something (Yes, I know, Obama already said no prosecutions) about this.

Seeing as how one of the claims of the Binalshibh defense team is that he's got a screw loose, these tapes may go a long way towards settling that issue as well.

The CIA claims that there was no torture harsh interrogation techniques in the tapes.

No comments: