Maha of The Mahablog:
That’s the downside of a life in a reviled lame duck administration — the fall guys stop falling.The TimesOnline: (My bold)
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.'Bush saw one of the videos'... HA! I've been saying this forever! Georgie gets that little-kid-trying-to-lie look on his face every time he denies ever even knowing about torture, the tapes, waterboarding....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?”
[snip]
The House intelligence committee has subpoenaed Rodriguez to appear for a hearing on January 16. Last week the CIA began opening its files to congressional investigators. Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat who is chairing the committee, has said he was “not looking for scapegoats” – a hint to Rodriguez that he would like him to talk.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer, believes the scandal could reach deep into the White House. “The CIA and Jose Rodriguez look bad, but he’s probably the least culpable person in the process. He didn’t wake up one day and decide, ‘I’m going to destroy these tapes.’ He checked with a lot of people and eventually he is going to get his say.”
Johnson says Rodriguez got his fingers burnt during the Iran-contra scandal while working for the CIA in Latin America in the 1980s. Even then he sought authorisation from senior officials. But when summoned to the FBI for questioning, he was told Iran-contra was “political – get your own lawyer”.
He learnt his lesson and recently appointed Robert Bennett, one of Washington’s most skilled lawyers, to handle the case of the destroyed interrogation tapes. “He has been starting to get his story out and was smart to get Bennett,” said Johnson.
The Justice Department has launched its own inquiry into the destruction of the tapes. It emerged yesterday that the CIA had misled members of the 9-11 Commission by not disclosing the existence of the tapes, in potential violation of the law. President George W Bush said last week he could not recall learning about the tapes before being briefed about them on December 6 by Michael Hayden, the CIA director.
“It looks increasingly as though the decision was made by the White House,” said Johnson. He believes it is “highly likely” that Bush saw one of the videos, as he was interested in Zubaydah’s case and received frequent updates on his interrogation from George Tenet, the CIA director at the time.
4 comments:
I wonder if Rodriguez will suddenly become all forgetful-like. That seems to happen a lot lately.
Someone should get his family to a safe house. And he should not take any airplane flights..
If Bush saw one of the tapes, you may be sure he enjoyed it. Bush is a mean man, through and through. If Bush has any redeeming human virtues, I never saw them in the six years he was governor of Texas.
I doubt Bush will physically threaten Rodriguez or his family. And if that happens, I'd bet on Rodriguez surviving, testifying and... who knows what happens then. The CIA takes care of its own. The Bushists may enjoy playing the role of tough guys, but in real life they're not very good at it.
Georgie needed deep therapy the moment he began torturing small animals and egging on the neighbor kids. He may have been fun to have a beer with, but I bet he was a mean drunk, too.
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