Senate Panel to Question Hayden on CIA Videotapes - Tuesday Dec. 11

[spanone]

2007 · CIA Director Michael Hayden is scheduled to appear before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday to discuss why his agency videotaped the interrogation of terrorism suspects and then destroyed the tapes.

The Justice Department and the CIA say they will investigate the destruction of the tapes, which are believed to have shown interrogators using especially harsh methods.

Just a week ago, the CIA and other agencies released a national intelligence estimate that concluded Iran halted its nuclear weapons program four years ago. Because it challenged the Bush administration's claims, the estimate was taken as a demonstration of the spy agency's independence.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17067186

[TwilightGardener]

1. This won't be televised, I'm guessing. I'd like to see it, though.

[spanone]

2. haven't heard about tv....hoping

maybe cspan???

[TwilightGardener]

3. Well, I'm just assuming they won't televise anything that might reveal classified stuff.

[Solly Mack]

4. I'd like a little transparency...some sunshine....

I want to watch...to listen...to hear what is being said with my own ears.


Not gonna happen is it?

[gateley]

7. I think that's why Biden called for an independent counsel -- instead of keeping

it 'in house'. I don't think he'll get much, if any, support, though.

[Solly Mack]

8. I know, right! 'In-house' lets us know already how it's going to go down

[gateley]

9. Yep. Why bother? nt

[L. Coyote]

5. REUTERS: CIA says it made, destroyed interrogation tapes

With links to a series of related articles.
This seems like another propagandistic apologism.

"techniques critics have denounced as torture"

Hayden's spin is given front row seating. At least the ACLU statement made it in.

=============
CIA says it made, destroyed interrogation tapes
http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSN06264762

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - The CIA acknowledged making videotapes to document interrogations of terrorism suspects that used techniques critics have denounced as torture, and said on Thursday it had destroyed the recordings.

Central Intelligence Agency Director Michael Hayden told employees in a letter that the videotapes were made in 2002 as part of a secret detention and interrogation program that began with the arrest of suspected al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah.

The taping was discontinued later that year and the tapes were destroyed in 2005, Hayden said.

"The tapes posed a serious security risk. Were they ever to leak, they would permit identification of your CIA colleagues

................

"The destruction of these tapes suggests an utter disregard for the rule of law. It was plainly a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence that could have been used to hold CIA agents accountable for the torture of prisoners," ACLU National Security Project Director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement.

[Beth Wellington]

6. The hearing with Hayden is to be open according to the Committee site

http://intelligence.senate.gov/hearings.cfm?hearingId=2467 although of course part of the testimony is classified... It starts at 2:30. Interestingly, Senate and House negotiators reached agreement December 5 on the Fiscal Year 2008 Intelligence Authorization bill which now includes a provision that would require all elements of the Intelligence Community to comply with the Army Field Manual standards for interrogating detainees. A similar amendment, supported by Chairman Rockefeller, was narrowly defeated in May when the Committee first considered its FY ‘08 authorization bill. Maybe this shows that Congress is losing patience...

[spanone]

10. ...thanks for the info