Nobody from the CIA will be charged in connection with the destruction of videos of the interrogation of terrorist suspects in the years after the September 11 attacks, the US justice department said today.
The 92 tapes showed harsh interrogation techniques being used on two al-Qaida suspects held at a secret CIA detention centre in Thailand.
They were destroyed on the orders of a senior CIA official, but it is not known whether the decision was his or came from higher up.
The justice department has also struggled to established a motivation – whether the US did not want any further bad publicity in the wake of the Iraqi Abu Ghraib prison scandal or whether CIA operatives feared prosecution.
Matthew Miller, the director of the office of public affairs at the department, said: "In January 2008, attorney general Michael Mukasey appointed assistant United States attorney John Durham to investigate the destruction by CIA personnel of videotapes of detainee interrogations.
"Since that time, a team of prosecutors and FBI agents led by Mr Durham has conducted an exhaustive investigation into the matter.
"As a result of that investigation, Mr Durham has concluded that he will not pursue criminal charges for the destruction of the interrogation videotapes".
The Guardian
