White House Quiet On Missing CIA Tapes, Congress Wants Answers

by Rob Walker | December 10, 2007 at 09:18 am

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So a number of tapes that showed the "interrogation" (read: torture) of detainees have been destroyed. Officially it was to 'protect security of officers' and the tapes were 'no longer of use'. It's too bad in some of them the detainees point the finger at high level members of middle eastern families who have close ties to US oil and corporate interests...because that sounds useful to me. When in doubt about stories like these, just follow the money.

White House lawyers have advised President Bush's spokeswoman not to answer specific questions about why the CIA destroyed tapes of terror suspects under interrogation.

White House press secretary Dana Perino says she will adhere to instructions from the White House counsel's office not to get into details with reporters. But she says her previous statement -- that the president has no recollections of hearing about the tapes' existence or their destruction before being briefed about it last Thursday -- remains accurate.

The White House typically stops commenting, beyond broad talking points, once an inquiry into a controversial matter is under way.

Top lawmakers are demanding to know why the CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogation techniques being used on terror suspects and who knew about it.

"Were there things on those tapes that they did not want to have
seen, that did not conform to what the attorney general would allow
them to do?" Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-West Virginia, said Sunday on CBS'
"Face the Nation."

CIA Director Michael Hayden will testify Tuesday before the Senate Intelligence Committee, which Rockefeller chairs.

Over the weekend, the Justice Department and the CIA opened a preliminary inquiry into the destruction of the tapes.

The Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog are conducting a joint inquiry into the spy agency's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists, to determine whether a full investigation is warranted. With that review ongoing, the White House counsel's office has instructed Bush's press secretary, Dana Perino, not to get into details with reporters.

"I think that that's appropriate, and I'll adhere to it," Perino said Monday. She said her previous statement remains accurate—that Bush has no recollection of hearing about the tapes' existence or their destruction before being briefed about it last Thursday.

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