Action Alert: Sign the petition on the CIA tapes

Stop the CIA cover-up

The C.I.A. admitted to destroying tapes of people being tortured. Demand Attorney General Mukasey appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute wrongdoing.

Sign the petition: Stop the C.I.A. cover-up.


When a defendant admits to destroying key evidence, it’s typically called "obstruction of justice." When the Bush administration admits to destroying evidence of wrongdoing, it’s called business as usual.

Last week, the head of the C.I.A., Michael Hayden, announced the agency destroyed tapes of what he called a "harsh interrogation" and what you and I would call torture. The reason? To protect agency operatives from legal consequences.

We want to get to the bottom of this and the only way to do that is to appoint an independent prosecutor.


Sign our petition: Demand Attorney General Mukasey appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute wrongdoing.


The C.I.A. withheld knowledge of the tapes’ destruction from the House and Senate intelligence committees who oversee the C.I.A. They also withheld the tapes from federal prosecutors and the 9/11 Commission even though they were specifically asked for depictions of interrogations. According to the former director of the 9/11 Commission, this could amount to obstruction of justice.

Thankfully, members of Congress are already expressing their outrage over this action. On the Senate floor, Senator Kennedy warned his colleagues, "We haven’t seen anything like this since the 18 and a half minute gap in the tapes of Richard Nixon."

Sign our petition: Demand Attorney General Mukasey appoint an independent prosecutor to investigate and, if appropriate, prosecute wrongdoing.

This is a cover-up of epic proportions. So far the attorney general has responded by launching a "preliminary inquiry." But the Justice Department and the C.I.A. cannot be trusted to investigate themselves -- they are the very agencies that authorized and carried out the government's torture program. Only an independent prosecutor can get at the truth.

Attorney General Mukasey now faces his first big test: Will he launch an independent investigation and stick to promises to uphold the rule of law, or will he continue Bush administration practices that put government officials above the law?

We’ll deliver the petition to Attorney General Mukasey and we’ll also copy members of Congress, who can keep the pressure on and pass a law appointing an independent prosecutor if Mukasey won’t do his job.


Sign the petition: Stop the C.I.A. cover-up.


The destruction of these tapes appears to be part of an extensive, long-term pattern of misusing executive authority to insulate individuals from criminal prosecution for torture and abuse.

Now is the time to show that no one is above the law: not the CIA, not the Justice Department, not the President. Thank you for getting involved.

Sincerely,
Caroline Fredrickson, Director
ACLU Washington Legislative Office