[Infowarrior] - Tapes ¹ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases

[Richard Forno]

Tapes¹ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases

By MARK MAZZETTI and SCOTT SHANE
Published: March 28, 2008

WASHINGTON ‹ When officers from the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed
hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting harsh interrogations in 2005,
they may have believed they were freeing the government and themselves from
potentially serious legal trouble.

But nearly four months after the disclosure that the tapes were destroyed,
the list of legal entanglements for the C.I.A., the Defense Department and
other agencies is only growing longer. In addition to criminal and
Congressional investigations of the tapes¹ destruction, the government is
fighting off challenges in several major terrorism cases and a raft of
prisoners¹ legal claims that it may have destroyed evidence.

³They thought they were saving themselves from legal scrutiny, as well as
possible danger from Al Qaeda if the tapes became public,² said Frederick P.
Hitz, a former C.I.A. officer and the agency¹s inspector general from 1990
to 1998, speaking of agency officials who favored eliminating the tapes.
³Unknowingly, perhaps, they may have created even more problems for
themselves.²

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/28/washington/28intel.html