Destroyed tapes show CIA prisons in Thailand : Washington Post

Washington Post reported today that the CIA station chief in Bangkok sent a classified cable in late 2005, asking permission to destroy the videotapes " recorded at a secret CIA prison in Thailand that in part portrayed intelligence officers using simulated drowning to extract information from suspected al-Qaeda members."

News about Thailand hosting a covert prison system set up by the CIA around 2001 was first reported by the Washington Post in November 2005. Besides Thailand, Afghanistan and several countries in Eastern Europe, as well as a small center at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba, were the places where the CIA had set up its covert prison system.

It said Thailand was part of the "hidden global internment network is a central element in the CIA's unconventional war on terrorism. It depends on the cooperation of foreign intelligence services, and on keeping even basic information about the system secret from the public, foreign officials and nearly all members of Congress charged with overseeing the CIA's covert actions," the Washington Post reported in the November 2, 2005 edition. The report provoked an international outcry. Bangkok denied the claim.

In the US capital today, a top member of the House Intelligence Committee told reporters after meeting with the CIA's acting general counsel, John Rizzo, who testified behind closed doors as the first witness in what committee officials have said will be a long investigation.

The CIA official who gave the command to destroy the videotapes apparently acted against the direction of his superiors, Rep. Pete Hoekstra, R-Mich told reporters after the four hours meeting. "It appears he hadn't gotten authority from anyone," Hoekstra said.

The US Justice Department and the House intelligence committee are now investigating whether that deed constituted a violation of law or an obstruction of justice.

"I believe there are parts of the intelligence community that don't believe they are accountable to Congress and may not be accountable to their own superiors in the intelligence community, and that's why it's a problem," he said.

At the center of the controversy is Jose Rodriguez, who had been scheduled to appear in front of the Committee on the same day but his testimony was delayed by his demand for immunity.

Rodriguez was the head of the CIA's National Clandestine Service, the CIA branch that oversees spying operations and interrogations. He gave the order to destroy the tapes in November 2005.

Washington Post reported Rodriguez's attorney, Robert S. Bennett, as saying his client had consulted with CIA lawyers and officials who told him that he had the legal right to order the destruction of the tape.

The Post said congressional investigators have turned up no evidence that anyone in the Bush administration openly advocated the tapes' destruction.

The Post also quoted Rodriguez's attorney saying his client was carrying out the agency's stated intention.

"Since 2002, the CIA wanted to destroy the tapes to protect the identity and lives of its officers and for other counterintelligence reasons," Bennett said in a written response to questions from The Washington Post.

"In 2003 the leadership of intelligence committees were told about the CIA's intent to destroy the tapes. In 2005, CIA lawyers again advised the National Clandestine Service that they had the authority to destroy the tapes and it was legal to do so. It is unfortunate," Bennett continued, "that under the pressure of a Congressional and criminal investigation, history is now being revised, and some people are running for cover."