It looks as though the Center for Constitutional Rights is going to be the one to move the ball forward on getting the facts about the so called Enhanced Interrogation Techniques out, once again. Yesterday they learned of existence of video and audio tape evidence of the interrogation of the Mr. al Qahtani, the prisoner who was the victim of the “First Special Interrogation Plan” by the US Government.

"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"

This is more than a little bit of a big deal, as Mr. al Qahtani is the one of the Guantanamo Bay prisoners who the Susan Crawford, the Convening Authority of the Military Commissions said could not be brought to trial because the totality of his treatment in US custody since February 2002 amounted to torture. For those who don’t know, torture is not just defined by single acts like waterboarding, but under Federal and International law includes the totality of treatment.

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Last month, the CIA told a federal court judge it could not abide by a court order and turn over detailed documents about the destruction of 92 interrogation videotapes because it would compromise the integrity of a special prosecutor's criminal investigation into the matter.

US District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein responded by demanding a sworn declaration from special counsel John Durham confirming that to be the case. In a subsequent court filing, Lev Dassin, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, backtracked and said the CIA would no longer rely on that argument.

Dassin added, however, that a "senior government official" would soon submit a declaration explaining why detailed documents related to the videotaped interrogations should not be turned over to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

In previous court filings, the CIA disclosed that 12 of the 92 videotaped interrogations depict CIA interrogators subjecting Abu Zubaydah, the first "high-value" detainee, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the attack on the USS Cole in 2000, to brutal interrogation methods, including waterboarding.

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By Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Report
Monday 23 March 2009

The CIA has about 3,000 documents related to the 92 destroyed videotapes that showed "war on terror" detainees being subjected to harsh interrogations, the Justice Department has disclosed, suggesting an extensive back-and-forth between CIA field operatives and officials of the Bush administration.

The Justice Department said the documents include "cables, memoranda, notes and e-mails" related to the destroyed CIA videotapes. Those tapes included 12 that showed two "high-value" prisoners undergoing the drowning sensation caused by waterboarding and other brutal techniques that have been widely denounced as torture.

The number of documents - but not their contents - was mentioned on Friday in a Justice Department letter from Lev Dassin, acting US attorney for the Southern District of New York, to US District Court Judge Alvin Hellerstein in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

Dassin told Judge Hellerstein that unredacted versions of the materials would be available for only him to review "in-camera" on March 26. The CIA also refused to provide the ACLU with a list of individuals who watched the videotapes prior to their destruction because that information "is either classified or otherwise protected by statute."

The number of relevant documents - "roughly 3,000," according to the letter - adds weight to the belief that CIA interrogators were in frequent communication with headquarters at Langley, Virginia, and with senior Bush administration officials who were monitoring the harsh techniques used and approving them one by one or even in combination.

The volume of communications also lends support to the suspicion that many officials were involved in the debate about what to do with the incriminating videotapes, not just one or two CIA officers acting on their own. CIA officials have said the videotapes were destroyed to prevent disclosure of how the agency's interrogators subjected "war on terror" detainees to waterboarding and other brutal methods.

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Tuesday 10 March 2009, by Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t | Report

Heavily redacted government documents filed in a New York federal court Friday afternoon say the CIA destroyed 12 videotapes that specifically showed two detainees being tortured.

The documents were filed in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union. In December 2007, the ACLU filed a motion to hold the CIA in contempt for its destruction of the tapes in violation of a court order requiring the agency to produce or identify all records requested by the ACLU. That motion is still pending.

On Monday, the Justice Department revealed in court documents that the CIA destroyed 92 interrogation videotapes, which is now the subject of a criminal probe. According to Friday's court documents, 90 tapes relate to one detainee and two tapes relate to another detainee.

In a letter filed Friday in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Acting US Attorney Lev Dassin said a complete list of summaries, transcripts or memoranda related to the videotapes would be filed with the court by March 20.

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Now that the Bush Administration is out of power and can no longer protect itself, evidence of the many crimes it committed is starting to pour forth, and the concealment and cover-up of their criminal conspiracy to commit torture is starting to unravel.

Back in December of 2007, it was revealed that the CIA had destroyed two long videotapes....of the CIA torturing 'terror suspects.' The CIA initially denied the tapes existed, and then was forced to admit that it had destroyed them. At the time there was quite a stir...considering that Bush was still in power and the press was still in thrall to him...about this wanton destruction of evidence.

Today, due to the vigilance of the ACLU, it was revealed that the number was actually not two...but 92.

Via Raw Story...

According to the letter, which can be viewed here, (pdf) the CIA is now gathering information in response to the Court's order to provide a list identifying and describing each of the destroyed records, as well as transcripts or summaries from any of the destroyed records and the names of any witnesses who may have viewed the videotapes before their destruction. The CIA requested that it be given until March 6 to provide the court with a timeline for its response to the requested information.

In December 2007, the ACLU filed a motion to hold the CIA in contempt for its destruction of videotapes in violation of a court order requiring the agency to produce or identify all the requested records. That motion is still pending, according to a release from the ACLU.

From the NYT story linked above, we get some info on what the tapes contained and the rationale for destroying them...

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