Reply #25: Judge Urged Not to Ask About CIA Tapes

[Xipe Totec]

Source: Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration told a federal judge it was not obligated to preserve videotapes of CIA interrogations of suspected terrorists and urged the court not to look into the tapes' destruction.

In court documents filed Friday night, government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy that demanding information about the tapes would interfere with current investigations by Congress and the Justice Department.

(snip)

Government lawyers told Kennedy the tapes were not covered by his court order because Zubaydah and al-Nashiri were not at the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba. The men were being held overseas in a network of secret CIA prisons. By the time President Bush acknowledged the existence of those prisons and the prisoners were transferred to Guantanamo, the tapes had been destroyed.

In court documents, acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey S. Bucholtz was concerned that Kennedy might order CIA officials to testify about the tapes. Bucholtz said that ``could potentially complicate the ongoing efforts to arrive at a full factual understanding of the matter.''



Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-7155775,00.html

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Don't ask any questions, because that could complicate things... :eyes: