Misblog

Originally published December 18, 2007, Updated and Republished March 28, 2008, Updated and Republished April 11, 2008, Updated and Republished May 06, 2008:

Wow! ... videogate has already reached the level of White House vice presidential and presidential counsel...

"At least four top White House lawyers [Harriet Miers, John Bellinger, Alberto Gonzales and David Addington] took part in discussions with the Central Intelligence Agency between 2003 and 2005 about whether to destroy videotapes showing the secret interrogations of two operatives from Al Qaeda, according to current and former administration and intelligence officials."--NYT's reporters Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane--

Web:

• UPDATED 05/05/2008 AP, House panel subpoenas top Cheney aide [David Addington]. John Yoo (aka Mr. Torture), former Attorney General John Ashcroft, former Under Secretary of Defense Douglas Feith, and former Assistant Attorney General Daniel Levin, and former CIA Director George Tenet (still negotiating terms of testimony) are expected to testify, too.
• UPDATED 04/12/2008 WP, Detainee's Suit Says Abuse Was Videotaped
• UPDATED 04/12/2008 AFP, Pentagon turns up dozens of interrogation videotapes: officials

• UPDATED 04/11/2008 AP, Cheney, Others OK'd Harsh Interrogations Torture

  "...Vice President Dick Cheney on down signed off on using harsh interrogation techniques against suspected terrorists after asking the Justice Department to endorse their legality..."--AP--

  Bet Cheney, David Addington, and William Haynes coordinated (explicitly or implicitly) to "use" the “green as grass” and “eager to please” John Yoo (who was a stupid, naive, and willing stooge)¹ to write the torture memo(s)—then pretended they were relying on Yoo's opinion(s)—Ashcroft doing his best to keep his fingerprints off the memo(s).

  If you believe the president didn't know and sanction the torture, I've got some weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for you.

• UPDATED 03/28/2008 NYT, Tapes’ Destruction Hovers Over Detainee Cases
• 2/07/2008 NYT, C.I.A. Destroyed Tapes as Judge Sought Interrogation Data.
• UPDATED 01/27/2008 Jurist, CIA must be held accountable for illegal interrogation and destruction of evidence.
• UPDATED 01/17/2008 NYT, Account of C.I.A. Tapes Is Challenged. It appears tapes were destroyed notwithstanding direction to preserve them.
• UPDATED 01/09/2008 NYT, Ex-C.I.A Aide Won’t Testify on Tapes Without Immunity.
• UPDATED 01/03/2008 NYT, Justice Dept. Sets Criminal Inquiry Into C.I.A. Tapes.
• UPDATED 12/29/2007 NYT, Tapes by C.I.A. Lived and Died to Save Image.

• UPDATED 12/22/2007 WP, CIA Tapes Were Kept From 9/11 Panel, Report Says. The CIA most certainly stonewalled the 911 Commission on information, not just the torture tapes! Additionally the White House was uncooperative and stonewalled the 911 Commission.

  The 911 Commission did not serve the public's interest by capitulating instead of challenging both (although they believed, at the time was in the public's interest to strive for the lowest common denominator so a bipartisan albeit incomplete report could issue). Nice to hear the Commission's executive director speaking candidly, if somewhat late.

• UPDATED 12/21/2007 NYT, Judge Refuses to Order Hearing on C.I.A. Tapes.
• UPDATED 12/21/2007 AP, US Heads to Court Over CIA Videos.
• UPDATED 12/21/2007 NYT, House Panel Subpoenas C.I.A. Official Over Destroyed Tapes. Our criminal, abusive, dangerous, harmful, lying, rogue, arrogant, ignorant, incompetent, and ineffective president will not say whether he ordered the destruction of the videotapes!
• 2/20/2007 NYT, C.I.A. to Cooperate With House on Tapes
• UPDATED 12/19/2007 AP, Congress Challenges Bush Over CIA Tapes
• Bush Lawyers Discussed Fate of C.I.A.Tapes

Blog:

• UPDATED 01/03/2008 WP, Tapegate Probe Will Outlast Bush Presidency. How appropriate that a mob prosecutor is assigned to investigate videogate. He must be granted "special prosecutor" status to ensure his independence.

-----notes-----

1. A recent John Yoo Esquire interview, given after public disclosure of a second torture memo, indicates some realization that trading autonomous thinking, credibility, and integrity for acceptance is usually not a good trade—a realization that comes too late to change his nom de plum, "the guy who wrote the torture memos"