Regarding the CIA's destruction of the interrogation tapes...

...Did anyone ever think that they were telling the truth when they swore up and down that there just weren't any tapes?

"In May 2005, US District Judge Leonie Brinkema ordered the government to disclose whether interrogations were recorded. The government objected to that order, and the judge modified it on November 3, 2005, to ask for confirmation of whether the government “has video or audio tapes of these interrogations” and then named specific ones. Eleven days later, the government denied it had video or audio tapes of those specific interrogations... Last month, the CIA admitted to Brinkema and a circuit judge that it had failed to hand over tapes of enemy combatant witnesses." (Emphasis mine)

A little legal jiu-jitsu that's now coming back with a vengeance.

So now what are we supposed to think?

Of course, the CIA now says that their "internal watchdog" viewed the tapes and pronounced the interrogations legal. Reasons why that's the case, sir or ma'am? ...(Birds chirping.)

No one can either agree or disagree with the CIA's assertion that the detainees weren't tortured, as they shredded the only way of proving their case. I want to believe them, but their actions just aren't the ones of people who have nothing to be ashamed of. Therefore, I must conclude that they had something to hide other than the faces of the questioners. That's too bad, as I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt in the matter, until this latest news came out. Of course I want these terrorists to be interviewed as much as possible, in order to prevent future attacks. If we torture them, however, we become just as bad as they are, not to mention that there's lots of proof that torturing prisoners just doesn't work or gets one bad intel, as Christopher Hitchens, who is certainly no terrorist-coddler, writes. Our country's own experiences in debriefing captured Nazi soldiers during World War II backs up Hitchens's argument:

"Just last month, in Washington, D.C, a great secret of World War II was revealed. The Army commemorated a secret band of American interrogators from that war. For some 65 years, they kept the secret of their incredible success at interrogating Nazis at little-known Fort Hunt, which lies just outside our capital. These men, who "broke" the Nazi generals and scientists brought to them, did so without using any controversial techniques."


I think the headline under which this article was submitted on fark.com sums up the entire sordid situation best:

"CIA destroys video tape of terror suspects tort..err...interrogation, because if they leaked, it may compromise agents' identities. If only there were some technology that blurred faces on video tape"

I wonder why the spooks didn't think of that idea.