CIA destroyed interrogation tapes ! Guys give me a break. . .

The CIA has confirmed that it destroyed at least two video tapes showing the interrogation of terror suspects.
According to the intelligence agency, the tapes were destroyed to protect the identity of CIA agents and because they no longer had intelligence value.

But civil liberties lawyers have refused to accept this, saying the CIA previously denied such tapes existed.

They say the move appears to be an attempt to destroy evidence that could have brought CIA agents to account.

The New York Times, which broke the story, quotes current and former government officials as saying the CIA destroyed the tapes in 2005 as it faced Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program.

Officials feared the tapes could have raised doubts about the legality of the CIA's techniques, the newspaper says.

The tapes are thought to have shown the interrogation in 2002 of a number of terror suspects, including Abu Zubaydah, who had been a chief recruiter for the al-Qaeda network.


TORTURE TECHNIQUES
Water boarding: prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round his head. Water is poured onto his face and is said to produce a fear of drowning
Cold cell: prisoner made to stand naked in a cold, though not freezing, cell and doused with water
Standing: Prisoners stand for 40 hours and more, shackled to the floor
Belly slap: a hard slap to the stomach with an open hand. This is designed to be painful but not to cause injury

Source: ABC News

The videos were, according to the New York Times, wiped in 2005, at the time the agency was being scrutinised about its secret detention programme.

The Associated Press news agency on Thursday obtained a letter sent to all CIA employees by the agency's current director, Michael Hayden, explaining why the footage was destroyed.

In the internal memo, Mr Hayden told staff that the CIA had begun taping interrogations as an internal check in 2002 and decided to delete the videos because they lacked any "legal or internal reason" to keep them.

According to AP, the CIA chief wrote to employees: "The tapes posed a serious security risk.

"Were they ever to leak, they would permit identification of your CIA colleagues who had served in the program, exposing them and their families to retaliation from al-Qaeda and its sympathizers."

'Troubling'

The CIA acknowledges that these early interrogations were harsh, but Mr Hayden says that the CIA's internal watchdogs saw the tapes in 2003 and verified that the techniques used were legal.

But Senate judiciary committee chairman Patrick Leahy said the tapes' destruction was troubling.


The damage is compounded when such actions are hidden away from accountability
Senator Patrick Leahy
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman

"The damage is compounded when such actions are hidden away from accountability," he said.

The American Civil Liberties Union has accused the agency of showing an utter disregard for the law.

"The destruction of these tapes appears to be a part of an extensive, long-term pattern of misusing executive authority to insulate individuals from criminal prosecution for torture and abuse," an ACLU statement said.

The BBC's Jonathan Beale in Washington says the news is likely to trigger more questions about the interrogation techniques used by the CIA and whether they amounted to torture.

There are also questions over whether CIA agents withheld information from the courts and a presidential commission.

The CIA's failure to make the tapes available to a federal court hearing the case of the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui or to the 9/11 Commission could amount to obstruction of justice, according to the New York Times.

Lawyers in the Moussaoui trial and officials from the 9/11 Commission had both requested from the CIA details of any relevant interrogations of al-Qaeda suspects.


Michael Hayden wrote to all CIA employees about the tapes

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US, President George W Bush authorised the use of "harsh techniques" in the interrogation of suspected terrorists.

According to our correspondent, those techniques are alleged to have included water-boarding, a method in which a suspect is held down and gagged while water is poured into his mouth in order to simulate drowning.

Human rights groups say that water-boarding - and other techniques allegedly used by the CIA - can be defined as torture under various international treaties to which the US is a signatory.

The Bush administration has always maintained that it does not allow the use of torture.

HA-HA-HA-HA ! THIS "BUSH" ADMINISTARTION IS SO F***ING PATHETIC !! BUT THE MOST PATHETIC OF ALL IS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHO GAVE A 2ND CHANCE TO THIS DOPE, THIS BLOCKHEAD OR MAY I SAY TO THIS JACKASS IN 2004. ARE THEY FOR REAL ?!?!?!?! THEY ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR FATES.

/D.P.

The Failure of the GCC

According to the IMF, the GDP of the GCC in 2007 will reach a whopping $750 Billion[1], placing it roughly above Australia as the 16th largest economy in the world[2]. And yet this number does little more than aggregate the economies of six geographically close countries that practically might as well be on six different continents. It is inconceivable that these half a dozen countries that are for all terms and purposes carbon copies of each other cannot agree on how to proceed with what is clearly the common good for their economies and end up holding expensive lunches and tea parties with no measurable outcome. There are a couple of issues here that need to be highlighted.

Currency Union

First, the issue of monetary union has started to cause a serious case of currency fatigue amongst even the most ardent supporters of this fantastical idea. Doubts have been cast now that two countries have more or less officially pulled out of the currency union[3]. GCC nationals are wondering when the other four are going to admit that they have failed in the most basic of agreements. The sad fact that seems to have been overlooked is that before our esteemed officials realized the obvious necessity of a common GCC currency the region actually had one for over a century that was working perfectly well. It was called the Indian Rupee (it still exists today). A currency that was universal in every meaning of the word, accepted as legal tender from Iraq to Yemen even though India is thousands of miles away and without the assistance of the European Union, IMF, World Bank, countless consultants, research papers, and investment banks that have ultimately contributed to this collective failure that is evident today. There are very few excuses that could be presented to the people of the GCC other than simple apathy and the lack of conviction on the part of the officials. Some might argue for maintaining the status quo in which Mr. Ben Bernanke effectively plays the part of the GCC Central Bank Governor as he knowingly or not dictates the monetary policy of six independent nations from his good offices in Washington DC.

Customs Union

Second, as the GCC approaches the sixth year of the so called customs union many of us dread yet another announcement from the secretary general of the GCC that the temporary “trial phase” will be extended by another year or two[4]. As one “brotherly” country accuses another of dumping products[5] and the lack of agreement on tariff sharing[6] illustrate, the dream of a customs union has yet to materialize.
The idea of the GCC unifying its customs tariffs and regulations came from non other than the European Union who insisted in the 1980’s that there would be no free trade agreement (FTA) with the GCC unless the latter establishes one supranational entity that it could sign with[7]. The USA, the appointed guardian of the Gulf oil reserves, has deliberately followed a “divide and conquer” policy of signing with individual countries[8] that has cost its signatories dearly (see MoneyWorks April 2007 by same author). The UAE has fortunately escaped for another two years as President Bush’s fast-track negotiating powers have expired as of June 30th this year[9]. Two decades after the EU floated the customs union idea no GCC-EU FTA seems to be on the horizon with the Gulf Arab nations now seeking new partners most of whom are energy hungry Asian countries that would accept to sign FTA’s with what the EU regards as a flawed customs union[10].

In reality there have been very few success stories as a result of the establishment of the GCC. These include a semblance of freedom of labor movement as well as permitting expatriate residents who have lived in a member state for more than six months to visit another for a short stay. The GCC wide electricity grid which comes into effect in 2010[11] seems to be another practical and positive step forward.

What could be done?

The GCC needs to make up for lost time and implement a strategy with preset milestones and dates to reach an agreement on unifying its laws and regulations concerning foreign direct investment, banking and financial services and the legal system amongst other issues. The currency union cannot be salvaged at this point, however the customs union can be brought back to life with new rigor and if the GCC countries agree on unifying their laws there may be hope yet for the currency union sometime in the future.