Truthout: Reports May Have Motivated Destruction of Torture Tapes

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Reports May Have Motivated Destruction of Torture Tapes
Submitted by davidswanson on Thu, 2008-01-03 18:30. Criminal Prosecution

By Jason Leopold, t r u t h o u t


When Congress returns from its winter break in mid-January and continues its probe into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, the lawmakers may be interested in speaking to Mary O. McCarthy.

McCarthy spent most of her career at the spy agency, most recently as deputy inspector general. In 2004, she was tapped by the CIA's Inspector General John Helgerson to assist him with several internal investigations.

One of those investigations included a closer look at the CIA's interrogation methods. The report on this probe was completed in spring 2004. It concluded that some of the agency's approved interrogation methods "appeared to constitute cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, as defined by the International Convention Against Torture," according to a New York Times story published in November 2005. That was the same month the CIA destroyed the videotapes.

Helgerson personally viewed the videotapes that showed two detainees being subjected to waterboarding by CIA officers, which formed the foundation for his still classified report on the CIA's interrogations methods. McCarthy was also personally briefed on the existence and content of the videotapes, according to several CIA officials who worked closely with her, however it's unknown whether she viewed the material. McCarthy assisted Helgerson in drafting the classified report on the CIA's use of specific interrogation methods against high-level detainees.

"The officials who described the report said it discussed particular techniques used by the CIA against particular prisoners, including about three dozen terror suspects being held by the agency in secret locations around the world," the New York Times story says. "They said it referred in particular to the treatment of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who is said to have organized the Sept. 11 attacks and who has been detained in a secret location by the CIA since he was captured in March 2003. Mr. Mohammed is among those believed to have been subjected to waterboarding, in which a prisoner is strapped to a board and made to believe that he is drowning.

"In his report, Mr. Helgerson also raised concern about whether the use of the techniques could expose agency officers to legal liability," the officials said, according to The New York Times account. "They said the report expressed skepticism about the Bush administration view that any ban on cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment under the treaty does not apply to CIA interrogations because they take place overseas on people who are not citizens of the United States."

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