The U.S. Legal Community Condemns Destruction of CIA Tapes

[babylonsister]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/12/27/6010/

Legal Community Condemns Destruction of CIA Tapes
by William Fisher


NEW YORK - A former U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) ethics adviser has joined leading members of the U.S. legal community in calling on Congress to investigate the destruction of tape recordings of interrogations carried out by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).1227 04Jesselyn Radack — who came to prominence as a whistleblower after she objected to the government’s treatment of John Walker Lindh, the ‘American Taliban’ captured during the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan — told a news teleconference last week that the destroyed tapes are “part of a pattern.” She said, “There are some five million missing White House e-mails. No one knows where the hit lists are from the U.S. Attorney massacre. And now the CIA interrogation videotapes have been erased. This is criminal.”

“Remember when the Justice Department prosecuted Enron and Arthur Anderson for destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice? Now the Justice Department is trying to block congressional oversight and legal proceedings involving this latest scandal,” Radack added.

Radack’s comments came during the launch of a new campaign, “American Lawyers Defending the Constitution.” The effort is backed by a statement signed by more than 1,300 lawyers and law students around the country, including former New York governor Mario Cuomo, former Reagan administration official Bruce Fein, leaders of legal organisations and more than 100 law professors in the U.S.

Their statement calls on House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers and Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy to hold wide-ranging hearings to investigate “unconstitutional and potentially criminal activity by the Bush Administration.”

snip//

Jonathan Turley, a professor at George Washington University law school in Washington, appeared on CNN to discuss a report by the New York Times that four White House attorneys — including then-White House counsels Alberto Gonzales and Harriet Miers — participated in discussions with the CIA about whether or not the tapes should be destroyed.

Turley said, “There are at least six identifiable crimes here, from obstruction of justice to obstruction of Congress, perjury, conspiracy, false statements, and what is often forgotten: the crime of torturing suspects.” “If that crime was committed it was a crime that would conceivably be ordered by the president himself, only the president can order those types of special treatments or interrogation techniques,” he added.

[texastoast]

1. When will the people rise up? n/t

[L. Coyote]

2. It is encouraging to see the legal community rise up like this.

[L. Coyote]

3. K & R & Impeach two too