[国会记录：2007年12月7日（参议院）] [Page S15026]政府破坏了德宾先生的证据。总统先生今天早上，美国各地的报纸报道说，中央情报机构和其他情报机构已经破坏了证据，录像了囚犯审讯的证据。这是一个惊人的披露。美利坚合众国是法治受到尊敬的国家，现在已经从事破坏证据，具有非常敏感性的证据，显然应该为法律和历史目的而受到保护的证据。已故的历史学家亚瑟·施莱辛格（Arthur Schlesinger）谈到了该政府对酷刑的法律辩护：无论如何都没有立场对世界上的美国声誉造成更大的损害。自9/11以来，我们作为一个国家进行了测试，在我们保护美国的决心中进行了测试，但也经过了我们对所珍视价值观的承诺。战争时期和不安全感的时期是进行最伟大测试的时期。许多总统，甚至过去的伟大总统，都没有考验：内战期间总统亚伯拉罕·林肯（Abraham Lincoln）暂停了人身保护；第一次世界大战期间，关于那些不同意我们政府的人的爱国主义提出了严重的问题。在第二次世界大战期间，在我们最伟大的现代总统富兰克林·罗斯福（Franklin Roosevelt）的管理下，日本的拘留营成为了民族尴尬。 during the Cold War, our enemies list and the McCarthy hearings; all things that we look back on now and realize do not reflect well on the United States and certainly do not reflect our values. Now, this administration, this war on terror, this treatment of prisoners and detainees, it comes to our attention almost on a weekly basis that, sadly, some have crossed the line. Every week there is a new revelation about how the administration has engaged in activity that is not consistent with American laws or values when it comes to the issue of torture. In this morning's paper, CIA officials disclosed they destroyed videotapes of detainees being subjected to so-called enhanced interrogation techniques. We do not know what those videotapes included. There was a period of time when the Bush administration had decided to cast away the international standards of conduct, the Geneva Conventions that we have been held to and proudly displayed for decades. This administration redefined torture. Through a memo that has now been made public, we know they reached extremes, which eventually even they had to repudiate. The CIA has also reportedly withheld information about these videotapes from a Federal court and from the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. Today I am sending a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey calling on him to investigate whether CIA officials who covered up the existence of these videotapes violated the law. In a statement yesterday, GEN Michael Hayden, the CIA Director, acknowledged the tapes were destroyed, and stated: In 2002, during the initial stage of our terrorist detention program, CIA videotaped interrogations, and destroyed the tapes in 2005. The New York Times reported today that: 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. Now, the defense of the CIA is that they wanted to protect the identity of those CIA employees who were engaged in the interrogation. That is not a credible defense. We know that it is possible and, in fact, easy to cover the identity and faces of those who were involved on any videotape. Something more was involved. The CIA apparently withheld information about the existence of these videotapes from official proceedings, including the bipartisan Hamilton-Kean 9/11 Commission and a Federal court. According to Philip Zelikow, the Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission and formerly a high-ranking official in the Bush administration: The Commission did formally request material of this kind from all relevant agencies, and the Commission was assured that we had received all of the material responsive to our request. No tapes were acknowledged or turned over, nor was the commission provided with any transcripts prepared from recordings. CIA attorneys told the Federal court hearing the case of Zacarias Moussaoui that videotapes of detainee interrogations did not exist. This was a statement by our Government to a court involved a very sensitive and important case. The Justice Department has now acknowledged in a letter to the court that this was not true. Courts of America were misled by the Justice Department about the existence of this evidence. CIA Director Hayden asserts the videotapes were destroyed ``in line with the law.'' But listen to what the Federal obstruction of justice statute says: Whoever corruptly alters, destroys, mutilates, or conceals a record, document, or other object, or attempts to do so, with the intent to impair the object's integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or otherwise obstructs, influences, or impedes any official proceeding, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. That is what the Federal criminal statute says. It is not my role or Mr. Hayden's role to determine whether the law was violated. That is the responsibility of the Department of Justice. That is the responsibility of the Attorney General, Michael Mukasey. As Mr. Zelikow said: The executive branch and Congress need to decide how much they care about this question. If they want to get to the bottom of it, it's pretty easy for people to dig up the relevant records and answer the questions that either officials of the executive branch or the Congress could pose. This is the first real test of Attorney General Michael Mukasey. I hope he will do the right thing. What is at stake goes to the heart of the rule of law and justice in America. If our Government can destroy evidence, can misrepresent to our courts whether that evidence ever existed, if it can attempt to cover up wrongdoing, that goes way beyond the standards of justice and the values of America. This disclosure of the destruction of those videotapes goes to the heart of who we are as a people. I do not know what was on those tapes. It was clearly something very troubling or they would not have been destroyed. I do not even know if it was incriminating, but we have a right to know. In America, everyone is held accountable, including officials at the highest levels of our Government. It is time for this Department of Justice to turn the page from an era when we were engaged in a new definition of torture, a new definition of whether the Geneva Conventions were applicable, and bring us back into the rule of law, into those standards of conduct which have made America proud for so many generations. Today I will be sending a letter to Attorney General Mukasey calling for an official investigation of whether there was destruction of evidence and obstruction of justice in the destruction of those videotapes on the interrogation of detainees. This is not an issue that can be ignored. ____________________ [Congressional Record: December 7, 2007 (Senate)] [Page S15027-S15028] THE DESTRUCTION OF CIA TAPES Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, the torture debate took another deeply troubling turn yesterday. The Nation learned the CIA had destroyed videotapes of its employees in the act of using torture or other harsh interrogation techniques on detainees. Those tapes were not shown to Congress. They were not shown to any court. They were not shown to the bipartisan 9-11 Commission. Instead, they were destroyed. What would cause the CIA to take this action? The answer is obvious-- cover up. The agency was desperate to cover up damning evidence of their practices. In a letter to agency employees yesterday, CIA Director Michael Hayden claimed that the tapes were a security risk because they might someday ``leak'' and thereby identify the CIA employees who engaged in these practices. But that excuse won't wash. I am second to no one in wanting to protect the brave men and women of the CIA. But how is it possible that the director of the CIA has so little faith in his own agency? Does the director believe the CIA's buildings are not secure? Would it be beyond the agency's technical expertise to preserve the tapes while hiding the identity of its employees? Does the director believe that the CIA's employees cannot be trusted not to leak materials that might harm the agency? Or does he know that the interrogation techniques are so abhorrent that they could not remain unknown much longer? It is particularly difficult to take the director's explanation at face value when the news that these CIA tapes were destroyed came the very same week that we learned that as many as 10 million White House emails have not been preserved, despite a law that requires their retention. At the same time, the President continued to insist that we grant immunity to the phone companies for their role in the illegal wiretapping of American citizens. The pattern is unmistakable. The past 6 years, the Bush administration has run roughshod over our ideals and the rule of law. For 4 of those 6 years, the Republican Congress did little to hold the administration accountable. Now, when the new Democratic Congress is demanding answers, the administration is feverishly covering up its tracks. We haven't seen anything like this since the 18\1/2\-minute gap in the tapes of President Richard Nixon. These efforts are wrong, and they must be stopped. I and other concerned Senators will today call upon Attorney General Mukasey to immediately begin an investigation into whether the CIA's handling and destruction of these tapes violated the law. We also must redouble our efforts to make sure that future interrogations by the CIA conform to our laws and values. No part of our Government should engage in practices that are so horrific that we cannot bear to see them on tape. To that end, I introduced legislation to require that all Government agencies, including the CIA, follow the standards of the Army Field Manual. Language that would take that important step was recently included in the conference report on the Intelligence authorization bill, and we must act to adopt it as soon as possible. As founder John Adams said, our Nation is ``a Nation of laws, not men.'' That basic principle is at risk today from an administration that is engaging in a coverup--systematically destroying records, commuting sentences, and stonewalling congressional investigations. The CIA's role in this coverup is only the latest reminder that Congress must fight harder to prevent this administration from making a mockery of the rule of law, and to preserve the right of the American people to know what the Government has been doing in their name. Mr. OBAMA. Mr. President, I wish to express my serious concern over the Central Intelligence Agency's confirmation that videotapes depicting brutal interrogation techniques were destroyed. First, it is important that we note the broader context of this debate. The United States of America is a nation born out of a struggle against tyranny, and our founding legal document asserts that the rule of law applies to all men and women, and all branches and agencies of government. We are not a perfect Nation, but our national greatness is marked by our ability to rise above our imperfections through our allegiance to our values and to the rule of law. Time and again, America has triumphed because of the contrast we draw to tyranny. We are a nation that set captives free, shut down torture chambers, and extended freedom and international law to more of humanity. Now, we are engaged in a new kind of conflict. And the question that we have faced since September 11, 2001, is how we are going to respond to the shadowy, stateless, terrorist enemies of the 21st century. Tragically, the Bush administration has too often chosen to respond to this enemy by abandoning our values and ignoring laws that it deems inconvenient. So we have seen excessive secrecy, indefinite detention, warrantless wire-tapping, and `enhanced interrogation techniques' like simulated drowning that qualify as torture through any careful measure of the law or appeal to human decency. For each of these new policies, we have seen dubious legal reasoning that does not stand up to the harsh light of review or the sound judgment of our Constitution. Yesterday, we learned that in November 2005, the CIA destroyed videotapes of its interrogations of two prominent al-Qaida suspects, including a close Osama bin Laden associate Abu Zubayadah. Media reports suggest that these videotapes depict brutal interrogation techniques, and could certainly be relevant to ongoing investigations and inquiries. Furthermore, these videotapes were not provided to the 9/11 Commission, which made a broad set of requests for classified documents--including interrogation tapes and transcripts--that would have included information about the 9/11 attacks. The CIA has argued that these tapes needed to be destroyed to protect the identities of the interrogators. Our government must go to any length necessary to protect the identities of those [[Page S15028]] who serve in a covert capacity. But the CIA keeps scores of classified material--including videotapes--while protecting the identities of its agents. This raises serious questions about whether the tapes were destroyed to protect the nature of the interrogation, rather than the identity of the interrogator. This incident deserves further congressional oversight and inquiry-- neither the CIA nor this interrogation program is immune to our laws. This is yet another chapter in a dark period in our constitutional history. Now, it is time to turn the page. That is why I was heartened to learn that the House and Senate Intelligence Committees have reached agreement on including a requirement in the Intelligence authorization bill that subjects CIA interrogators to the guidelines on interrogation included in the U.S. Army Field Manual. It would be a grave disappointment--though not surprising--if this important step forward were subject to a veto threat from the President. That must not deter the Congress from moving forward. We have a responsibility to act. We should not have a separate interrogation program whose methods are so abhorrent that they cannot stand up to scrutiny. We should not have to find ways of ignoring or averting our own laws to defend our country. Torture does not work. Torture violates our laws. And torture sets back the standing and moral leadership that America needs to triumph in this global struggle. Our values and laws are not inconvenient obstacles to the defense of our national security--they can and must be a guiding force in our response to terrorism. Today is Pearl Harbor day--a date when our Nation was subjected to a terrible surprise attack, and when a generation of Americans answered the call to defend our security and extend the cause of freedom. More than 6 years after 9/11, we are still struggling to define our own response to our generation's terrible surprise attack. As we defend America, let us learn the painful lessons of these last few years, and enlist our values and our Constitution in this first great struggle of the 21st century. ____________________