tortureIn a speech on Aug. 16, 2007, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Silvestre Reyes touted the exploits of
Jose Rodriguez (the man blamed for destroying the “
torture tapes“) as “
the genesis” for the show “24.” Harper’s Ken Silverstein reports that, while Blackwater has been recruiting Rodriguez, he is reportedly “doing business in Texas
with the brother of Silvestre Reyes.” Meanwhile, one former intelligence official tells Harper’s that Rodriguez is being made the scapegoat:
“This looks like he was tossed under a giant bus,” one former intelligence official told me. “How likely is it that he took this decision on his own, especially when he’s not in the videotapes and wouldn’t be effected directly? Not very likely.”
BY Ken Silverstein
PUBLISHED December 8, 2007
I tend to agree with my colleague
Scott Horton that Jose Rodriguez Jr., the former head of the CIA’s clandestine service, is being made the scapegoat for the destruction of videotapes showing the interrogation of two Al Qaeda members. “This looks like he was tossed under a giant bus,” one former intelligence official told me. “How likely is it that he took this decision on his own, especially when he’s not in the videotapes and wouldn’t be effected directly? Not very likely.”
<...>
In the fall of 2006,
I reported that Rodriguez, who was then still at the agency, was being recruited by Blackwater. He has a number of close friends at that firm, including Rick Prado, with whom he served in Latin America. I’ve been told that Rodriguez may still end up at Blackwater but with all the bad press that firm has been getting any definite plans were put on the back burner until the dust settles.
Meanwhile, Rodriguez, two sources have told me, is doing business in Texas with the brother of Silvestre Reyes, the Democratic chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,
where Reyes has served since 2001. From what I understand, Rodriguez and Chairman Reyes are extremely close friends, and the congressman “set up Rodriguez with his brother.”
Reyes has ten brothers and sisters and I’m not certain which brother has been working with Rodriguez. But Silvestre certainly has entrepreneurial family members. One brother, Jesus, has worked as his campaign manager and is a political fundraiser who has raised money from companies and individuals with interests before Reyes’s committee. International Microwave Corp., a contractor which that been backed by the congressman, hired his daughter, Rebecca, and his son, Silvestre Reyes Jr.
<...>
Update, 9:00 PM:
Via
Talkingpointsmemo.com:
Reyes has just released a statement saying his committee “will follow the facts wherever they may lead, and we will use every tool at our disposal to conduct a fair and complete review” of the destruction of the CIA videotapes. “In these matters,” Reyes added, “there is often a temptation to find a single scapegoat and not address broader issues. We must resist that temptation.”
Given his friendship with Rodriguez, I can well imagine the impulse, no matter what the facts of this particular case.
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