Durbin Calls on DOJ to Investigate CIA Torture-Tape DestructionThe irony is getting out of control. For years, the Bush administration has sought to assure the interrogators who implemented its torture policy that they won’t be prosecuted. But with the revelation that operations chief Jose Rodriguez destroyed recorded evidence of potentially-illegal interrogations, the CIA may have boxed even the Bush Justice Department into a corner. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), the number-two Democrat in the Senate, is calling on DOJ to open an obstruction-of-justice investigation. You can read Durbin’s letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey here.
So far, it’s not clear what DOJ will do. “We have received and are reviewing Senator Durbin’s letter,” says Dean Boyd, spokesman for DOJ’s national-security division. More as it develops.
But as for what will happen, an overlooked piece of evidence further suggests that the Justice Department will try hard to leave this one alone. On October 25, U.S. attorneys Chuck Rosenberg, David Novak and David Raskin wrote (pdf) to the judges in the Zacharias Moussaoui case to tell them about the tapes “as part of our obligation of candor to the court.” (Relying on CIA, the prosecution had told the court, and the defense, that there were no records of the interrogations, following a request from Moussaoui.)
The lawyers write that they didn’t know about the CIA’s tapes, and the reason they give for CIA’s “error” is helpfully blacked out in the letter. But they do disclose that they’ve had knowledge of the at least some CIA interrogation videos — apparently, there are more! — since September. There’s no indication from the letter that the lawyers knew about the destruction of any tapes. But even so, the fact that tapes existed even though the CIA had assured DOJ that they didn’t is prima facie evidence of obstruction. And barring some bombshell revelation about a sotto voce investigation, the Justice Department opted to sweep that under the rug until now. And possibly even now.
Update: Credit where due. Greg Gordon of McClatchy reported on the October 25 letter last month, when no one — myself certainly included — bothered to pay attention. Big up to Gordon.