http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/11/opinion/l11cia.html?_r=1&ref=opinion&oref=sloginDestroyed: The C.I.A. Torture Tapes Published Dec. 11, 2007
To The Editor: Re “C.I.A. Destroyed 2 Tapes Showing Interrogations” (front page, Dec. 7):
You don’t need to have worked as an F.B.I. agent for 24 years as I did to know that shredding the evidence is always a clue.
What’s the common thread underlying the C.I.A.’s destruction of videotaped harsh interrogations in the midst of ongoing legal inquiries; President Bush’s last-minute commutation of Scooter Libby’s prison sentence; the millions of White House e-mail records missing in violation of the Presidential Records Act; and the administration’s current push to give immunity to the telecommunication companies suspected of engaging in illegal eavesdropping and surveillance of Americans?
Clearly, the only way the Bush gang can protect itself now from accountability is to suppress the truth. To do so, officials must destroy hard evidence and, at the same time, protect and immunize those who followed their illegal orders.
Their contempt for the rule of law cannot get much worse. They learned from Nixon’s Watergate, and they’re trying not to leave any Oval Office tapes around.
Coleen Rowley
Apple Valley, Minn., Dec. 7, 2007
Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is a former FBI agent and whistleblower, and was a candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota in 2006. She lost the general election to Republican incumbent John Kline.<1>
After the September 11, 2001 attacks, Rowley wrote a paper for FBI Director Robert Mueller documenting how FBI HQ personnel in Washington, D.C., had mishandled and failed to take action on information provided by the Minneapolis, Minnesota Field Office regarding its investigation of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui. This individual had been suspected of being involved in preparations for a suicide-hijacking similar to the December, 1994, "Eiffel Tower" hijacking of Air France 8969. Failures identified by Rowley may have left the U.S. vulnerable to the September 11, 2001 attacks.
Rowley testified in front of the Senate and for the 9/11 Commission about the FBI's internal organization and mishandling of information related to the September 11, 2001 attacks. Director Mueller and Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) pushed hard and got a major reorganization, focused on creation of the new Office of Intelligence at the FBI. This reorganization was supported with a significant expansion of FBI personnel with counter terrorism and language skills.
Rowley retired from the FBI in 2004 after 24 years with the agency.
Mrs. Rowley jointly held the TIME "Person of the Year" award in 2002 with two other women credited as whistleblowers: Sherron Watkins from Enron and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom.
(wikipedia)