Kiriakou Attorney Sues to Get Torture-Tape Destruction DocsNow here’s an interesting development in the CIA tapes case. Yesterday, the James Madison Project — a good-government, anti-secrecy non-profit — filed suit in federal court to get the CIA to disclose documents related to the 2005 destruction of the interrogation videotapes. Apparently the JMP recently filed a Freedom of Information Act request for the documents, and the lawsuit is to expedite the processing of that FOIA.
Here’s a statement from JMP’s executive director:
The public deserves to know the truth underlying the CIAâs questionable conduct in destroying the interrogation videotapes of terrorist suspects, and that those responsible are held accountable for any improper or unlawful activities.
Par for the course from a goo-goo lawyer, right? Well, here’s the interesting thing. JMP’s executive director is Mark Zaid. Zaid is the attorney for John Kiriakou, who led the 2002 interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, and who also told ABC News that Abu Zubaydah was tortured by his interrogators. Kiriakou is currently under criminal investigation by the Justice Department to determine whether he illegally disclosed classified information in his ABC News interview. So if the CIA ends up executing the FOIA in any expeditious way, it might be handing those documents over to the lawyer for a man it sought to have prosecuted — though, if they suggest illegality in the actual interrogation, they might prove problematic down the road for Kiriakou.
However, Zaid tells us, the lawsuit has nothing to do with his representation of Kiriakou. He filed the FOIA before Kiriakou retained him, he says.
