Does our government torture people? Should it have the right to torture people? With respect to the CIA and its videotapes of harsh interrogations, those are legitimate questions (see here and here). However, with respect to the tapes, there is also another question. Why does our government need to keep the tapes secret? Is it to protect people? Then why do people in the CIA need to keep the tapes secret from the people in our legislative branch? Do we need to be protected from the folks in the legislative branch?
Can politicians be trusted? Apparently, that is the crux of this news story (here). Consider the last paragraph.
Mr. Hayden, who was not at the CIA in 2005 when the tapes were destroyed, briefed the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence behind closed doors on the agency’s 2005 decision to destroy the tapes. He said the tapes were destroyed to protect the identities of the interrogators, who could be subject to retribution by terrorists.
