The CIA withheld videotapes of the torture of suspected Al Qaeda members from the 9/11 Commission despite repeated requests for information on interrogations directed to top CIA and White House officials, according to the executive director of the commission. The CIA has acknowledged that in November 2005, more than a year after the requests were made, it destroyed tapes of CIA interrogations of two alleged Al Qaeda leaders, Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

The Justice Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have launched a joint probe into the CIA's destruction of the tapes which document prisoner interrogations at a secret CIA prison.

On December 12th, the American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion asking a federal judge to hold the CIA in contempt, charging that the agency flouted a court order when it destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the harsh interrogation of prisoners in its custody.

A New York Times story published on December 19th established that at least four senior lawyers and White House advisors—Alberto Gonzales, Bush’s White House counsel and then attorney general, Harriet Miers, his successor in the counsel position; David Addington, counsel and then chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney; and John Bellinger III, the National Security Council’s top lawyer—had participated in discussions on the tapes and their destruction.

Even as they work to squelch inquiries into past torture, the White House and its congressional allies have moved to block a bill that would ban the CIA from using “enhanced interrogation techniques,” including water-boarding, in the future. Senate Republicans are using a procedural technicality to strip language from a bill passed by the House of Representatives that would require the CIA to follow the same rules as the US military. Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it gets through the House and Senate.

Demand an Investigation into the Destruction of CIA Torture Tapes | New York Times bows to White House pressure over CIA tapes story | More revelations concerning CIA destruction of torture tapes | CIA destroyed torture tapes

See Also: Nancy Pelosi and Waterboarding | Feinstein Backs Bush Nominee Who Refuses To Condemn Torture | Waterboarding Torture Demonsted at UC Berkeley