Judge seems wary of opening CIA inquiry; US denies CIA tapes show Gitmo torture RAW STORY

Published: Friday December 21, 2007



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Print This Email This A federal judge appeared reluctant Friday to investigate the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes while the Justice Department is conducting its own inquiry. US District Judge Henry H. Kennedy is considering whether to delve into the matter and, if so, how deeply. The Bush administration is urging him to back off while it investigates. "Why should the court not permit the Department of Justice to do just that?" Kennedy asked at a court hearing Friday. In 2005, the judge had ordered that evidence "regarding the torture, mistreatment, and abuse of detainees" in the US military base in Guantanamo should be preserved. Meanwhile, US government lawyers flatly denied Friday that videotapes destroyed by the CIA contained any scenes of the torture of terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay, in the keenly watched court hearing. "It is inconceivable that the destroyed tapes could have been about abuse, mistreatment or torture of detainees at Guantanamo Bay," lawyer Jody Hunt, representing the White House, told the court. The hearing marked the first time that administration lawyers have spoken in public and under oath about the matter since the CIA disclosed this month it destroyed the tapes of officers using tough interrogation methods while questioning two al-Qaida suspects. Lawyers for Yemeni detainees at Guantanamo Bay argue that the destruction of the tapes may have violated a court order and may indicate that other evidence was also destroyed. They urged the court not to take a back seat to the executive branch, which destroyed the documents in the first place. "The Justice Department may have sanctioned the destruction of these videotapes," David Remes, an attorney for the detainees, said following the hearing. "Now they are asking the court to stay out on the ground it is investigating the destruction of these videotapes." Remes said that he argued that the tapes' destruction "raised legitimate questions and grave concerns about the government's handling of evidence generally that is being used in the Guantanamo cases." Continued the attorney, "It's a fundamental matter of trust. If the government is willing to destroy potentially relevant evidence -- as it has acknowledged doing in this situation -- I don't believe that it can be trusted when it says it's preserved all of the other relevant evidence." Kennedy, a former prosecutor who was appointed to the bench by President Clinton, did not immediately say what he would do. In a press conference Thursday, President Bush refused to comment on the CIA's decision to destroy the tapes. "I am going to reserve judgment until I find out the full facts," he said, adding he would not offer any opinion on the issue "until these inquiries are complete, and the oversight is finished." The New York Times this week, citing unnamed administration and intelligence officials, said four top White House lawyers took part in discussions with the CIA in 2003 and 2005 on whether to keep the videotapes. "The accounts indicate that the involvement of White House officials in the discussions before the destruction of the tapes in November 2005 was more extensive than Bush administration officials have acknowledged," the Times said. (with wire reports) This following video is from CNN.com, broadcast on December 21, 2007.

Detainee attorney David Remes speaks on courthouse steps following hearing on destroyed CIA interrogation tapes:











