CIA Head Was OK With Destroying Torture Tapes

Emails indicate Porter Goss agreed with the decision
By Emily Rauhala,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 16, 2010 6:49 AM CDT
CIA Head Was OK With Destroying Torture Tapes
An Iraq War demonstrator re-enacting waterboarding torture. The issue continues to haunt the CIA.   (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Former CIA head Porter Goss agreed with the decision to destroy tapes of terror suspect Abu Zubaydah being waterboarded, email records obtained by the ACLU show. In one, the agency's top officer wrote that he "felt it was extremely important to destroy the tapes"—then added "PG, however, agreed with the decision." The emails also suggest Bush's top legal counsel, Harriet Miers, didn't know about the tapes and was "livid" when she heard, days later, that they'd been destroyed.

The ACLU is calling for the courts to investigate the matter further. "These documents provide further evidence that senior CIA officials were willing to risk being prosecuted for obstruction of justice in order to avoid being prosecuted for torture," an ACLU rep tells the AP. "If the Department of Justice fails to hold these officials accountable, they will have succeeded in their cover-up."
(More waterboarding stories.)

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