The CIA may have kept two interrogation tapes of particular interest, later destroyed, from the September 11 commission, the New York Times reports.

A classified documents review showed that, in 2003 and 2004, detailed requests were made to the Central Intelligence Agency to provide all documents and other information on the interrogation of al-Qaeda operatives. A top CIA official told the commission that all materials requested had been provided.

The two videotapes, destroyed in 2005, show two terror suspects, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, being interrogated. The White House has come under criticism after evidence surfaced that it had allowed the tapes to be destroyed, possibly to prevent them from being used as evidence. The White House claims that there was no legal obligation to preserve the tapes, as it was only directed to safeguard recordings taken at Guantanamo Bay; since the two interrogations in question were filmed at secret CIA camps before the suspects' arrival at Guantanamo, the White House contends, the tapes did not have to be preserved.
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EXCERPTS:

A seven-page memorandum prepared by Philip D. Zelikow, the panel’s former executive director, concluded that “further investigation is needed” to determine whether the C.I.A.’s withholding of the tapes from the commission violated federal law.

In interviews this week, the two chairmen of the commission, Lee H. Hamilton and Thomas H. Kean, said their reading of the report had convinced them that the agency had made a conscious decision to impede the Sept. 11 commission’s inquiry.

Among the statements that the memorandum suggests were misleading was an assertion made on June 29, 2004, by John E. McLaughlin, the deputy director of central intelligence, that the C.I.A. “has taken and completed all reasonable steps necessary to find the documents in its possession, custody or control responsive” to formal requests by the commission and “has produced or ..............
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/911_panel_CI...ation_1222.html

CIA obstructed 9/11 investigators

A review of documents by former members of the 9/11 commission revealed the panel made repeated, detailed requests to the spy agency in 2003 and 2004 for information about the interrogation of members of the extremist network but were never notified of the tapes, the New York Times reported.

The review of the commission's correspondence with the Central Intelligence Agency came after the agency earlier this month revealed it had destroyed videotapes in 2005 that showed harsh interrogations of two Al-Qaeda members.

The review, written up in a memo prepared by Philip Zelikow, the former executive director of the 9/11 commission, said that "further investigation is needed" to resolve whether the CIA's failure to hand over the tapes violated federal law.

The memorandum does not assert that withholding the tapes was illegal but states that federal law penalizes anyone who "knowingly and wilfully" withholds or "covers up" a "material fact" from a federal inquiry, the newspaper said.

The revelation adds to pressure on President George W. Bush's administration, already under fire over the affair by human rights groups and lawmakers who allege it has tried to cover up proof of torture.

The CIA responded that the panel never specifically asked for interrogation videos.

CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield told AFP the agency had gone to "great lengths" to satisfy the panel's requests, and that commission members had been provided with details from interrogations of detainees.

"The 9/11 Commission certainly had access to, and drew from, detailed information that had been provided by terrorist detainees. That's how they reconstructed the plot in their comprehensive report," he said.

"Because it was thought the commission could ask about tapes at some point, they were not destroyed while the commission was active."

The two chairs of the commission, former Democratic lawmaker Lee Hamilton and former New Jersey governor Thomas Kean, told the newspaper the review showed the CIA had actively tried to obstruct the panel's work.

Kean said the panel would give the memorandum to federal officials and lawmakers in Congress who are investigating the destruction of the tapes. Hamilton said the CIA "clearly obstructed" the panel's probe.

According to the memo posted on the New York Times' website, the commission was interested in interrogations of Al-Qaeda members because it was trying to reconstruct the events leading up to the attacks of September 11, 2001, on New York and Washington.

The commission made initial general requests for intelligence information from interrogations, including the two detainees on the destroyed videotapes, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rashim al-Nashiri, said the memorandum.

It followed up with more requests for "very detailed information" about the context of the interrogations, the credibility of statements from detainees, the quality of language translation and other issues.

"The commission was dissatisfied with the answers it received to these questions," the memorandum said.

None of the officials who communicated with the panel ever revealed the existence of the videotapes, it said.

The CIA spokesman cited public comments about cooperation from the CIA made by the 9/11 Commission, which said "the CIA provided great assistance."

"The CIA has cooperated fully in making available both the documents and interviews that we have needed so far on this topic," it said.

"As Director (CIA Director Michael) Hayden pointed out in his December 6th statement, the tapes were destroyed only when it was determined they were no longer of intelligence value and not relevant to any internal, legislative, or judicial inquiries," Mansfield added.

A senior intelligence official speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP that news stories about interrogation techniques had already appeared when the commission made its final report.

"If the commission had wanted to make an issue of how the information was obtained from the detainees as opposed to what was learned from them, they had an opportunity to do so at the time," the official said. "They didn't do that."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071222/pl_af...QnmYC3izSSs0NUE

9/11 Commission chair: 'No question' CIA knew we wanted tapes

Kean says agency tried to 'impede our investigation'

There is "no question" the CIA was aware that its now-destroyed videotapes depicting severe interrogations were among evidence being sought by 9/11 Commission investigators, says the commission's chairman Thomas Kean.

Kean, a former Republican governor of New Jersey, told CNN's John Roberts that the 9/11 Commission had actively sought all of the spy agency's information about detainees with suspected links to the Sept. 11 terror attacks.

"I'm not a lawyer and I'm not sure if they broke the law or not but what they did do, I think, is try to impede our investigation," said Kean. "Because we asked for...anything to do with those detainees, because they were the ones who knew most about the plot of 9/11 and that was our mandate."

He sharply dismissed the agency's continued insistence that the tapes were not specifically requested by the commission.

"They can parse their words all they want," he continued. "We asked for every single thing that they had, and then my vice chairman, Lee Hamilton, looked the director of the CIA in the face and said, 'look, even if we haven't asked for something, if it's pertinent to our investigation, make it available to us.' And our staff asked again and again of their staff and the tapes were not given to us. So there was no question."

Asked about comments from former acting CIA director John McLaughlin, who previously told CNN that the tapes did not include any information relevant to the 9/11 Commission's inquiry, Kean was skeptical.

"It's hard to tell, because the tapes have been destroyed," he said, "But we should have seen them and made that determination ourselves. I mean no, question that we again and again and again asked for everything, and we needed it, and we weren't given it, and so the only conclusion we can draw is it was withheld from us, and that can only be seen to me as an attempt to impede our investigation."

Kean added that he was prepared to.......
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/911_commissi...asked_1224.html

CIA Chief To Drag White House Into Torture Cover-Up Storm

THE CIA chief who ordered the destruction of secret videotapes recording the harsh interrogation of two top Al-Qaeda suspects has indicated he may seek immunity from prosecution in exchange for testifying before the House intelligence committee.

Jose Rodriguez, former head of the CIA’s clandestine service, is determined not to become the fall guy in the controversy over the CIA’s use of torture, according to intelligence sources.

It has emerged that at least four White House staff were approached for advice about the tapes, including David Addington, a senior aide to Dick Cheney, the vice-president, but none has admitted to recommending their destruction.

Vincent Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism at the CIA, said it was impossible for Rodriguez to have acted on his own: “If everybody was against the decision, why in the world would Jose Rodriguez – one of the most cautious men I have ever met – have gone ahead and destroyed them?”
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