Edwards on CIA Tapes: Torture is morally wrong, it is illegal, it is ineffective...

Today's NY Times:

The Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody, a step it took in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.

John Edwards, having learned of the destruction of CIA tapes made during "harsh" interrogations, released this statement:

Torture is morally wrong, it is illegal, it is ineffective, it endangers our own troops and citizens, and it plays into the hands of our enemies.  My administration will uphold and protect the law rather than trampling over it.

John Edwards' statement continues:

I was disturbed to learn that the CIA deliberately destroyed video recordings of interrogations it conducted using extreme techniques. These tapes were destroyed during the ongoing 9-11 Commission investigation, raising deeply troubling questions about whether their destruction was intended to prevent the American people from learning the truth about the harsh interrogation techniques sanctioned by the Bush-Cheney Administration. Particularly with an issue so critical to our moral authority in the world, the American people deserve the truth, not suspicious excuses and evasions.

L C Johnson has a great diary on this topic:

The truth on this will come out assuming that the Democrats press the investigation.  At initial glance the CIA is hiding behind the lamest of excuses:

General Hayden’s statement said that the tapes posed a "serious security risk" and that if they had become public they would have exposed C.I.A. officials "and their families to retaliation from Al Qaeda and its sympathizers."

I do not dispute the possibility of retaliation by Al Qaeda against an undercover officer.  In fact, it happened to Valerie Plame Wilson, but her identity was exposed by the Bush Administration.  Then there is the question of tradecraft.  Did the CIA officers participating in the interrogation/torture sessions allow themselves to be filmed so that they could be easily identified?  I am skeptical.  When the truth comes out I think we are likely to discover the people doing the questioning were contractors, not undercover Agency officers.

Indeed, the NY Times article reports that agency officials say that they were destroyed, at least in part, due to the techniques used.

The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terrorism suspects — including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in C.I.A. custody — to severe interrogation techniques. The tapes were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that video showing harsh interrogation methods could expose agency officials to legal risks, several officials said.

Not only were these tapes denied to the defense of Zacarias Moussaoui, but they were also denied to the 9/11 Commission.

"The commission did formally request material of this kind from all relevant agencies, and the commission was assured that we had received all the material responsive to our request," said Philip D. Zelikow, who served as executive director of the Sept. 11 commission and later as a senior counselor to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"No tapes were acknowledged or turned over, nor was the commission provided with any transcript prepared from recordings," he said.