CIA Destroys Its Interrogation Tapes

General Hayden, the current head of the Central Intelligence Agency, has stated that the CIA has indeed destroyed video tapes, which contain images of individuals being tortured. The tapes were destroyed back in 2005 and at that time, Porter Gauss was the head of the CIA, but when asked about the destruction of these tapes, he claims that he was not told about their destruction. It is said that some of the tapes show prisoners being "Water Boarded."

Water Boarding is a form of torture where the individual is strapped down to a board. The board is laid flat and the individual is lying on their back horizontally. A rag or towel is then placed over the prisoner's mouth and nose and then water is poured on it. This gives the individual the sensation that they are drowning. Now, while it is still being debated as to whether "Water Boarding" can be considered torture or not. Water Boarding is considered by most people to be, in fact, a form of torture.

We must ask ourselves why these tapes have been destroyed. All government agencies, including the President's administration are required by law to keep a record of every thing that happens. Even in the issue of emails, it is illegal to destroy those electronic documents. Yet I regard to tapes depicting torture they are destroyed, and the CIA has the audacity to publicly admit that they destroyed these tapes.

The answer can only be that information was going to be leaked that there were tapes in existence, which shows the intelligence agency engaging in torture. The American public does believe that they torture, but it is quite different if the evidence is viewed on video and in pictures, as in the case of the Abu Ghraib atrocities.