No charges for CIA tape destruction: Justice Dept

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Reuters:

(Reuters) - No CIA personnel will face criminal charges for destroying videotapes of harsh interrogations of terrorism suspects, the U.S. Justice Department said on Tuesday.

While the decision will spare the CIA and the Obama administration the potential backlash and embarrassment that a trial could have generated, another federal probe continues into possible abuse of detainees by CIA personnel.

The videotapes probe was launched in January 2008 by then-U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey after revelations that the CIA in 2005 had destroyed hundreds of hours of videotapes of the interrogations of terrorism suspects Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.

Zubaydah was one of three terrorism suspects who was subjected to waterboarding, a procedure in which the person experiences simulated drowning. It was believed that the tapes included footage of the waterboarding.

Human rights groups and some lawmakers call waterboarding torture, but former President George W. Bush strongly defended its use in his new memoir released on Tuesday.

Federal prosecutor John Durham conducted an "exhaustive investigation" into the destruction of the videotapes, Justice Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement.

"As a result of that investigation, Mr. Durham has concluded that he will not pursue criminal charges for the destruction of the interrogation videotapes," he said.
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Apparently these guys wanted to be waterboarded so they could say they did it for Allah. So, wasn't everybody happy in the end?