Bush/GOP Regime Lied About Torture Cover-up

They told us the illegal tapes were destroyed only because the tapes were no longer needed.  They lied.

Another document release sheds some light into the the 2005 destruction of tapes showing the torture of two detainees.

Porter J. Goss, the former director of the Central Intelligence Agency, in 2005 approved of the decision by one of his top aides to destroy dozens of videotapes documenting the brutal interrogation of two detainees, according to an internal C.I.A. document released Thursday.

Shortly after the tapes were destroyed at the order of Jose A. Rodriguez Jr., then the head of the C.I.A.’s clandestine service, Mr. Goss told Mr. Rodriguez that he "agreed" with the decision, according to the document. He even joked after Mr. Rodriguez offered to "take the heat" for destroying the tapes.

"PG laughed and said that actually, it would be he, PG, who would take the heat," according to one document, an internal C.I.A. e-mail message.

According to current and former intelligence officials, Mr. Goss did not approve the destruction before it happened, and was displeased that Mr. Rodriguez did not consult him or the C.I.A.’s top lawyer before giving the order for the tapes to be destroyed.

Which is in contrast to statements by officials at the time. First, from then CIA Director Hayden after the news broke in 2007:

I understand that the Agency did so only after it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative, or judicial inquiries — including the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui. The decision to destroy the tapes was made with CIA itself … and the absence of any legal or internal reason to keep them, the tapes posed a serious security risk.

And from the White House after the news broke in 2007:

General Hayden made a statement yesterday to his employees in which he said that the decision was made by the agency, it was made in consultation with the agency’s lawyers.

Now, apparently, according to CIA officials, "Mr. Rodriguez did not consult him or the C.I.A.’s top lawyer [or Goss] before giving the order for the tapes to be destroyed."

The destruction of these tapes, Glenn points out, was called obstruction of justice by the 9/11 Commission. An obstruction that covered up the illegal torture of these two detainees. And, an obstruction that is apparently one of those things that the current administration isn’t interested in looking back at… [emphasis added]

Inserted from <Daily Kos>

At the time, Rodriguez was the DDO, the number two man under Goss.  We still have not been given the whole truth.  Interrogation tapes are never destroyed, because they are no longer useful.  They are a valuable asset, because they can be used as references to answer future questions about interrogation technique.  They were not a security risk, because they would have been hidden away more securely than Faux Noise hides truth.  There is only one possible explanation here.  With approval from the top (Bush and Cheney) they exceeded even the guidelines infamous torture memos.  Until the GOP leaders who authorized this and other war crimes, there can be no healing.  Torture is not who we as Americans are.  To cleanse ourselves from this stain, we need Nuremburg in America.