When officers from the Central Intelligence Agency destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes documenting harsh interrogations in 2005, they may have believed they were freeing the government and themselves from potentially serious legal trouble.
But nearly four months after the disclosure that the tapes were destroyed, the list of legal entanglements for the C.I.A., the Defense Department and other agencies is only growing longer. In addition to criminal and Congressional investigations of the tapes’ destruction, the government is fighting off challenges in several major terrorism cases and a raft of prisoners’ legal claims that it may have destroyed evidence.
“They thought they were saving themselves from legal scrutiny, as well as possible danger from Al Qaeda if the tapes became public,” said Frederick P. Hitz, a former C.I.A. officer and the agency’s inspector general from 1990 to 1998, speaking of agency officials who favored eliminating the tapes. “Unknowingly, perhaps, they may have created even more problems for themselves.”
Uh, yeah. I pretty much have never encountered a scenario in which destroying something that others might take an interest in during future legal proceedings is a good idea...unless of course you make sure that nobody finds out that you destroyed those items of interest. Of course, doing so puts officials in our government on par with say, a burglar who trashes the crowbar he used to get into the house he robbed, but...well, I don't even need to say anything do I?
1 comment:
No, you really don't - this was a really boneheaded move by the company
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