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Negroponte Warned CIA Against Destroying the Torture Tapes
Add another name to the wall of fame. Newsweek reports that John Negroponte -- Mike McConnell's predecessor as director of national intelligence -- told then-CIA Director Porter Goss not to destroy the torture tapes. That instruction, apparently documented, is going to be crucial: advocates for Jose Rodriguez, the CIA official who destroyed the tapes in 2005, have said that they did not receive clear instructions from their superiors firmly telling them to preserve the recordings.
In the summer of 2005, then CIA director Porter Goss met with then national intelligence director John Negroponte to discuss a highly sensitive matter: what to do about the existence of videotapes documenting the use of controversial interrogation methods, apparently including waterboarding, on two key Al Qaeda suspects. The tapes were eventually destroyed, and congressional investigators are now trying to piece together an extensive paper trail documenting how and why it happened.One crucial document they'll surely want to examine: a memo written after the meeting between Goss and Negroponte, which records that Negroponte strongly advised against destroying the tapes, according to two people close to the investigation, who asked for anonymity when discussing a sensitive matter. The memo is so far the only known documentation that a senior intel official warned that the tapes should not be destroyed. Spokespeople for the CIA and the intel czar's office declined to comment, citing ongoing investigations.
Tally it up. Advising against destruction were: Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA) with Nancy Pelosi "concurring," Goss as both a congressman and CIA director, Harriet Miers, anonymous DOJ officials, and Negroponte. Those with an appetite for destruction were, of course, Rodriguez and, reportedly, lawyers within the CIA's operations directorate.
Comments (13)
Johann wrote on December 17, 2007 11:42 AM:"Those with an appetite for destruction were, of course, Rodriguez and, reportedly, lawyers within the CIA's operations directorate".
If you can't name names, (lawyers within the CIA's operations directorate) don't bother.
It's past time to place blame exactly where it belongs instead of hiding the identities of these criminals.
merryll wrote on December 17, 2007 11:45 AM:It's very likely there's torture on the tapes. But I'm not convinced that this is the only problem with them, or even the biggest problem.
linda wrote on December 17, 2007 11:46 AM:I'm convinced these tapes contradicted the official story of 9/11 which will turn out to be a bigger Bush administration crime that the hundreds of others.
john negroponte advised against destruction of evidence of torture... he of the infamous cover-up of the torture committed by the cia-trained and funded honduran battalion 316 during the st ronnie du reagan years..
bull.fucking.shit.
efinnpissed wrote on December 17, 2007 11:53 AM:Rodriguez is going to fall on the sword and claim he acted independantly, Bush will pardon him, and we'll all be left standing here like the Dem pussies we've become.
Get used to it...
we're fucked.
merryll wrote on December 17, 2007 11:59 AM:I won't get used to it. Impeachment; then we need to remove the power of pardon from future presidents.
Bill Peterson wrote on December 17, 2007 12:15 PM:What are the facts we know:
1) waterboarding and other "extreme techniques" are torture
2) torture does not produce reliable intelligence
3) the CIA has tortured these people, and taped it
4) in spite of clear direction, they destroyed the tapes anyway.
So, one of more of these things must be true IMHO:
- the victims confessed to all kinds of things that cannot be true, showing that the torture was worthless
- the victims confessed to things that COULD be true, ie, Saudi involvement, Israeli involvement, etc
- the tape shows Cheney or some other high official present
- the torture is so bad that it just cannot be viewed.
America has already lost so much, habeas corpus, abu graib, Plame treason, AG resigns in disgrace, telecom spying, black sites, torture, etc. We have lost our moral compass. These tapes are just one more item, and probably nothing will be done just as in the other cases.
Nice knowin' ya America!
anon wrote on December 17, 2007 12:17 PM:... Impeachment...
I know, i know, but...but...seems to me you'd have to remove Reid and Pelosi first just to get things going procedurally and to get some investigations moving and how are you going to do that?
Anonymous wrote on December 17, 2007 12:23 PM:Goss' credibility on the tapes question is dubious at best.
Consider:
- The guy resigned abruptly with no explanation to this day;
- The guy brought on a coterie of young aides "Gosslings" who were universally reviled by the Agency and unqualified for their jobs;
- The guy appointed Kyle "Dusty" Foggo as his #3, a key figure in the Cunningham-Wilkes bribery nexus;
- Goss was a CIA Officer way back when, involved in an assassin program and Central/South American operations that were under the thumb of Richard Nixon.
And, come to think of it, unindited Negroponte is no angel himself. Anyone remember Iran-Contra? Anyone remember that Negroponte was US Ambassador to the Phillipines when the Philippine government reversed course and allowed its citizens to work in slave-like conditions in the US' Northern Mariana islands? An issue near and dear to Jack Abramoff at the time...
A Goss-Negroponte letter is probably the equivalent of the Niger "yellowcake" letter.
jolly ranchero wrote on December 17, 2007 12:27 PM:Uh...just b/c there exists paperwork documenting this doesn't mean that Congress will be allowed to see it.
You'd be smart to bet the mortgage that this documentation will be immediately classified "executive privilege".
LiberalTarian wrote on December 17, 2007 1:01 PM:War crimes, baby. It's all about the war crimes.
yarnman.ret wrote on December 17, 2007 1:43 PM:There is some feeling in Europe that the uproar over the destruction of the waterboard tapes may be a way to cover up the fact that several Congressional leaders may have known about the existence of either the waterboard torture events, and/or the tapes per se, as early as 2004, Pelosi being one of the leaders involved. But the leaders said nothing at the time. If there is to be a complete investigation, it should be a no-holds barred type, even if it catches some members of the current Congressional leadership. Yarnman
Utopia wrote on December 17, 2007 3:21 PM:"[Negroponte's] instruction, apparently documented, is going to be crucial ..."
Former DCI Goss to a future Senate Intelligence Committee: "I'm sorry Senator, but I don't recall having a discussion with Mr. Negroponte about any CIA tapes. Further, the records of that meeting were inadvertently destroyed. No one could have anticipated that a computer failure would destroy those records. By the way, I take full responsibility for any mistakes that might have been made when I was the Director of the CIA. Except, of course, for a few bad apples."
Negroponte: "Like Director Goss, I, too, do not recall any discussion about CIA tapes."
U
parrot wrote on December 17, 2007 7:36 PM:What a hack job all around. Seriously, these politicians are party hacks, some of them criminally part of various political machines, some of them on the take for themselves, and some of them tortures and sociopaths. What we need is for one, just one, national leader to actually go on the floor of the Congress and demand that the rule of law be restored, demand, expect, and make Busholini and all the thugs sit before the bench of justice presided over by true Representatives of the People, and not the fools, idiots, and ghouls currently sitting in the boiler rooms making deals.