Mukasey to begin Criminal Inquiry in to destroyed CIA tapes: UPDATED: Kean & Hamilton's NY Times Op-ed
OK, let's see what happens now...
The U.S. Justice Department opened a criminal investigation into the destruction of CIA interrogation videotapes, and Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said Wednesday that he appointed an outside prosecutor to oversee the case.
The CIA acknowledged last month that it destroyed videos of officers using tough interrogation methods while questioning two al-Qaida suspects. The acknowledgment sparked a congressional inquiry and a preliminary investigation by Justice.
"The Department's National Security Division has recommended, and I have concluded, that there is a basis for initiating a criminal investigation of this matter, and I have taken steps to begin that investigation," Mukasey said in a statement released Wednesday.
Mukasey named John Durham, a federal prosecutor, to oversee the case. Durham has a reputation as one of the most relentless U.S. prosecutors...read on
And we know how much Republicans like "outside prosecutors." Or is that special prosecutors? I mean this in the Patrick Fitzgerald kinda way. We'll be talking about this a whole lot more as time goes on...
UPDATED: CNN's Jeffrey Toobin just said that this case is going to take a fairly long time to complete and there will be tons of subpoenas being thrown around
Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton wrote an op-ed for the NY Times: "Stonewalled by the C.I.A."
MORE than five years ago, Congress and President Bush created the 9/11 commission. The goal was to provide the American people with the fullest possible account of the “facts and circumstances relating to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001” — and to offer recommendations to prevent future attacks. Soon after its creation, the president’s chief of staff directed all executive branch agencies to cooperate with the commission.
The commission’s mandate was sweeping and it explicitly included the intelligence agencies. But the recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes — and did not tell us about them — obstructed our investigation...read on
Frusted
Wow, is he actually independent? Yay.
Let the games begin!
Another on-going investigation they can't talk about?
This too shall end in a pardon.
via Think Progress
Kean and Hamilton in NY Times OpEd today regarding CIA tapes in question.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/02/opinion/02kean.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&o...
Durham looks like a career ass kicker.
Good start.
Will this only serve to distract from the further investigation of John Edwards hair cut?
after 7 years of lies, dis/misinformation, death, torture, lack of accountability, extralegal maneuvering, illegal actions, signing statements, unitary executive BS, uber-secrecy, etc. i am going to view this with a squinty eye.
from the fitzgerald investigation (and its results) to the dem takeoever of the congress i have become accustomed to being severely disappointed. thus, this time, i am going to assume that nothing will happen, that this story will lead to 0 accountability or charges--it seems to be the safest bet these days.
This will be a fucking white wash just like the plame investigation.....
Enjoy the theatre,sheep!
Don't mean to be picky - but it should be "into" not "in to".
I only mention it because it's distracting. However momentary.
*
When the original story broke, Gen. Hayden (current head of the CIA) said the tapes were destroyed to protect the agents from legal repercussions.
Now I'm no legal scholar but that kind of sounds like the definition of Obstruction of Justice to me.
You're trusting the government to conduct a fair and impartial investigation of itself?
Where can I buy what you're smoking?
Mukasey named John Durham, oh a very independent gop supporter. just some more neocon hypocracy.
Uhhh huh. Sure he is.
And I'm going on a date with Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Biel at the same time.
Come on, you know that there is a low level scapegoat who they will charge.
So much water has gone over the damn these last few years that I need a refresher course. But wasn't there a time bush was pushing for some sort of law that would excuse any CIA agents who had done any bad interrogations deeds from answering for what they had done, or something like that? Didn't he want to protect them from anything they had been instructed to do that might be illegal? Wonder if this tape destruction happened about that same time.
No different than me investigating my brother. Nothing will come of it and it'll go away.
I am of a mind that this is where The Bush Crime Family claims that they told the CIA to PRESERVE the tapes and were ignored. Let the backstabbing, obfuscation, and muddying of the waters begin.
Again.
Or continue.
Whatever.
charles @ 7:
The Jersey Girls' Lorie Van Auken and Mindy Kleinberg responded to the Dec. 22nd front page New York Times article regarding the missing CIA tapes and their letter to the editor was published on Dec. 26th. It can be found here...
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/26/opinion/l26cia.html?ref=opinion
These girls lost their husbands in the fires of Sept. 11th, 2001 and were instrumental in setting up the Kean/Hamilton investigation in the first place. This story might have legs if the New York Times is covering it, Kean & Hamilton are weighing in on it, CNN is now covering it, and the Gov't has decided to investigate it. We'll see.
dadams @ 16:
One thing is for sure:
I am not going to pitch a tent in my trousers over the idea that this GOP tool is going to run a real investigation. Just the fact that there IS now going to be an investigation gives one pause and a notion to see what angle Mukasey & Co are working.
Jus' sayin'.
I don't think this investigation was started to make us feel better. I think there may be a high ranking ass that is about to be fed into the grinder and that ass is pissed as hell and wants his say in court. Somebody did somebody wrong song.
pissed off patricia @ 19:
ah yes, i believe you are referring to bush's use of the signing statement, in regards to the "terror bill". in effect, bush used his dictatorial-like position to change an anti-torture bill into a torture-is-cool bill. the reason was, as you wrote, to give the CIA room to khmer rouge it up. to einsatzgruppen it. to torquemada the sucker. to season with gestapo-essence.
who says the bushies don't learn? they learned that the torture at abu ghraib was NOT the problem, the problem was the pictures (and videos) that were leaked. and, in order to prevent a bigger scandal, they knew that they had to destroy evidence and cover their heinous crimes.
the standard cliche is that the cover-up is worse than the crime... in this instance i would imagine the torture, rape and beatings in the videos are worse than any cover-up could ever be.
what bush learned from his time ruining the country: commit any crime you like, just don't get caught
"I am not going to pitch a tent in my trousers ..." Bonkers, I have never heard that expression before but when I read it, it made me laugh out loud. Thank you! :)
The "CIA" is being scapegoated, just as they were on the intelligence for war with Iraq.
No smoking gun leading back to the Administration. THAT is why the tapes were destroyed...it is why there is no CLEAR indication of who gave the order to torture, of who decided WHY the Iraq should occur, why Osama escaped...etc etc etc.
This investigation is going to go nowhere...cost a ton of money...and in the end they'll imprison some poor low level intelligence bastard, strip him of his dignity, salary and pension...and the REAL criminals in the White House will walk away laughing at the American people once again.
web_geek @ 6:
The 'special' prosecutor was guaranteed substantial independence from Main Justice? In that event he didn't avail himself of it. John Dean in his latest book, Broken Government, says that Fitzgerald ran a "remarkably restrained" investigation and should have gone after Cheney but settled for Libby. And didn't he have a reputation for being zealous?
This will drag on until no one cares any more, or statutes of limitations run out.
I still maintain that it's not the torture captured on these videos that the CIA wants to make disappear. We have known for decades that the CIA tortures captives.
The information contained in the confession itself are what the CIA and the Bush administration are afraid of. Benazir Bhutto scratched the surface of it when she mentioned that Bin Laden had been killed years ago.
Remember that Bush told the FBI to "back off" the investigation of Saudi financing of the USS Cole bombing.
Remember that Cheney wanted to "limit the scope" of the 9-11 Commission investigation.
Remember that the Keane Commission felt that the head of the Pakistani ISI wiring $100,000 to Mohammed Atta on 9-10-2001 was "of little significance".
I could go on, but I don't want to piss of the site monitors!
Mukasey should have done this the day he found out about the evidence destruction. He has only taken this move because it was no longer possible for him to avoid doing it and not himself become part of a criminal conspiracy. At least he knows that much about the law.
There may be some rats jumping ship on this.. (Kean & Hamilton seem to be covering their butts) If that is the case we the America people could be lucky. It's happened before. I understand the lack of hope, but like so many people say we might as well go down fighting. We deserve it. Our children deserve it. All the men and women who gave their lives for this country deserve it.
"Fox To Investigate Chicken Slayings".
Criminals 'always' do what they can to destroy evidence.
Just like those Pentagon officers picking up pieces of wreckage
immediately following the attacks on 9/11 around the Pentagon lawn.
Remember that?
And this is the same Mukasey who a few weeks ago refused to say if waterboarding was even torture.
In a devastating New York Times op-ed today, 9/11 Commission leaders Tom Keane and Lee Hamilton accused the CIA of stonewalling their panel. The chairman and co-chairman alleged that those in the Bush administration who knew about videotapes of CIA detainee interrogations but failed to inform the 9/11 panel "obstructed our investigation." But lost in their historical record is one other inconvenient truth: President Bush tried to stonewall the 9/11 Commission from the very beginning.
For the history on Bush's opposition to the 9/11 panel, see:
"Bush Stonewalled 9/11 Commission from the Beginning."
I swear, that 9/11 Commission is looking more and more like the Warren Commission.
Picking gnat shyt out of pepper...
Trittydi @ 13:
Yes, it should. That's not being "picky", it's being "correct." (Language Arts teacher here.)
(That's OK, John. We love ya, man!)
We the People determine the direction of our Country ultimately. We play a part in electing our leaders. We push the public agenda. If enough of us realized our power and took the time to exert it, these fools would be done. Public Pressure should never be underestimated. We have worthy opponents who make us feel helpless and we often are, but the internet is a blessing any civil rights organizer of the past would be happy to have and utilize.
I have no faith this investigation will go anywhere. It's gonna get talked about then it's gonna get forgotten about.
Another exercise in futility. They have eleven months before the election, and they're going to string you people along that whole time. In the end, I doubt that a single damned thing is going to be done to these crooks, liars, murderers, and thieves.
And what's even more ridiculous is the idea that an election is going to make a difference. They're all owned by the corporate masters, and the ones who AREN'T owned by them, you don't want to hear about.
We the people really only have one of two choices: remove the power of the Federal government, and lose some "entitlements", or continue letting the federal government have it's power, and lose your FREEDOM.
But go ahead, keep voting for the people who refuse to relinquish power. I'm sure it will all work out in the end.
James @ 40:
Paul in LA talking of resounding Dem qualities in 5,4,3,2.............
This is for naught; nada; zilch; bupkis.
With all the evidence already destroyed, even the dog will have plausible deniability.
I can see 'national security' being repeatedly evoked as well as the vp being an alternate branch of gubmint.
After all the shredder truck are already gone, there is an 'investigation'.
I will not hold my breath!
There will be no "fitzmas".
This is a sham; a pretense; a bamboozle ; a hoodwink....
George W. Bush tortures and covers it up afterwards.
America tortures and still can't break plots to assassinate Benazir Bhutto.
-GSD
ConcernedCanuck @ 41:
:lol:
CoIntelPro @ 42:
So you don't see anything good coming from this? ;)
AngryOne @ 35:
the shredders have already left the building. wtf did this cherry-picked panel wait for?
By going outside the proper district(NoVa) Mukasey can retain some control, a little stonewall. If he had balls, he would have referred it to the local AGAG. If anyone had any doubt about Mukasey being Bushes bitch, this should put that to rest.
pissed off patricia @ 45:
yes! we'll be typing like crazy! :lol:
OK the results are in. John Durham said he looked at all the evidence and he has concluded no laws were broken.
He says he cannot discuss the case as someone might open it up again at some future time, only to say in summary there is nothing to see here.
George Bush commented "It's good to see the system works."
...and a monkey is about to fly out of my ass.
Wow that "Stonewalled by the C.I.A." op-ed is some powerful stuff...
Wait! Don't tell me. I know how this one ends.
Somehow I think Gonzales would not have done anything.... At least Mukasey is doing something good, in spite of monkeyboy in the White House.
Whitehouse @ 53:
The witless house hired him knowing this investigation was coming. he was custom picked for the job.
There is no way Mukasey could have said no to an investigation.
Don't give him any credit for doing something he is forced to do.
Can we have the investigation end in February 2009 so that there are NO pardons?
Perhaps I think too much.... but did anyone else feel a tad bit uneasy when that unusual fire broke out at the executive building where Cheney's office is located? What will ever come out of that "investigation"? I do recall not very long after the fire was out the secret service, with all their capabilities of investigating fires, causes, etc. announced it was accidental, probably electrical in nature. Wonder if any files or records were destroyed then..... hummmmmmm
And NOW they will investigate the CIA tape destruction issue?? Yeah............ right...............
Now we will finally get to see just how attached to bush's dick mukasey is.
My guess is that this whole exercise is just for show, and that a few "low level" folks will get their asses handed to them - rather than those who really deserve the punishment for their criminal actions.
tim osman @ 50:
Tim.... it's all fun and games
Until the flying monkeys attack........................
Keane and Hamilton should publicly commit suicide in shame. Fucking assholes. Why the hell didn't they speak up years ago?
"I don't recall giving an order to destroy those tapes but it is, hypothetically speaking, possible."
tim osman @ 50:
Forgive me if I take a pass on watching that event. Flying monkeys and clowns frighten me. :)
a Bush appointee investigating a Bush appointee and claiming to use an independent counsel. Don't hold your breath people. One of two outcomes. Nothing illegal was done or they will find another fall guy like in the Plame case and Gitmo abuse case. What a complete waste of time. While we're at it, we should find out if the The Grinch really did steal Christmas. I have my doubts, I think it was an inside job.
Cheyney's office will issue a statement claiming that there is no such thing as a video tape or the CIA and therefore no investigation can be done.
Mukasey makes it look like he's doing something justicy
It's pretty hard to follow up an act like Gonzo, it's also very hard to lie 24/7, nobody was as good as Al-ber-to! (Except for Rumsfeld of course..)
The easier and faster we lay down, the happier and more powerful they'll be. Democracy isn't easy.
George W Pinochet @ 29:
There are no statutes of limitation on warcrimes.
Of course Mukasey is not going to turn on the CIA; this is of course a coverup. It is a way of moving this down the calendar.
But, on the plus side, it will establish some facts, and it is more helpful than not having an investigation. It also allows the Congress to apply pressure in committee to both the US attorney and the AG.
Whoops.
Now the investigation is going to have to be done all over again, without the obstruction!
Keep striving truthers!
And it's a glorious day in TRUTHDOM!
I can't wait until Randi Rhodes comes back from vacation. This will make for great shows
bob @ 59:
I would pay to see that.
Orangutan. @ 38:
And they are hard at work to take the internets away at this moment. Also, what format were these "tapes"? VHS?
Fast crimes, but slow oversight.
Not impressed that Geneva violations could occur quickly; but it takes this long to "decide" to look into it. US governance, if it were credible, would be slow in permitting illegal activity; and fast in determining how that illegal US government action occurred.
US government will "move fast" when it wants -- issues NSLs, self-issues FISA-warrants, and quickly detains people. But when it comes to action to understand why the abuse is happening, "Oh, we have no idea. . ." However though of the NSLs could be motivated to think of something that will similarly quickly slap the US government officials with some legal consequences. If they were motivated in the right way, the US government officials could be motivated to report criminal conduct of their own family members.
The world can see the hypocrisy, slowness, and double standard: Quick to move based on illusions and use deadly force; but slow to ensure the leash on power is respected. The world has a reasonable basis not to be impressed with the US governance system. It is not working. It is only being abused, much to the delight of the alleged fascist war criminals in the Federalist Society, OVP, WH, DoJ, CIA, DoD and outside counsel's office.
Let's get ready for the ICC prosecutions. There's no statute of limitations. Time to get the American legal community under the spotlight and targeted for prosecution in re alleged Geneva violations. their oath was to defend the US treaty obligations, not pretend POWs have no rights. Geneva acts as a leash on the US and legal community; these lawyers have been making excuses to put themselves above the law. They are allegedly complicit because they've been making frivolous legal arguments, attaching them to the original alleged war crimes.
We didn't get "the truth" about 9/11.
Therefore "The Truthers" are right.
Just like we TRUTHERS knew all along.
Mr. @ 2:
If only...
I've had my hopes dashes so many effing times; I'm going to be freaking AMAZED if this guy actually follows through.
If he does, I promise I'll put a bumpersticker that says "Mukasey = <3" in big letters on my car.
bilhelm-X @ 64:
Are we sure Gonzo was lying, and not just REALLY stupid?
I mean seriously... you have to wonder about that guy. If I forgot half of what he apparently did, I'd have stopped BREATHING by now; because I wouldn't recall how.
An Average Joe @ 37:
Recently saw "disgard" instead of "discard" in the washroom of a well-known eatery. Freaked me out. They're making progress with NCLB.
*
It's the people who were stonewalled & the 9/11 Commission was one of the stonewallers.
...obstructed what investigation?
banzai @ 11:
Or the 9-11 commission, Warren commission, etc.
The point behind these various cover-ups is to sell something. Advertising. The 24/7 news cycle gets hungry. Politicians want the free face time. The Citizens get screwed. So what else is new? The best defense is to turn off the television and get on the WWW. Screw the MSM, before the MSM screws you.
On a positive note, once a Democrat gets elected, some terrorist group will nuke New York. That will put and end to most of this sort of crap. No Madison Ave., no 24/7 news cycle. Just a crater that glows in the dark.
at best...some patsy will take the fall on obstruction charges.........and that's it......all the evidence has been destroyed...
bushCo will just use this as another excuse to not cooperate with Congress
The OCT is an Official Conspiracy Theory of Obstruction.
Truthers are vindicated EVERY DAY!
So SWEET!
This is all about the truth about 9/11 bubbling to the surface despite the Govt and MSM trying to keep it down-just like the torture tapes issue.
It just happens that the two are intertwined in this issue.
Mukasey has a history of giving Bushco the decisions from the bench regarding "terrorism" and the GWOT.
This is a battle that can be won though. Mukasey looks really tense like hes trying to plug a million holes in the collapsing dam at once.
Kean and Hamilton are covering their butts in case the full blown truth is outed.
These are exciting times and the world can be changed for the better and dramatically so if everybody says,"Show Us The Evidence".
Nothing will come of it. We have been here before and failed. Our Congress is a bunch of weenies that can't do anything right and we have a bunch of big dicks at the top laughing at them. What a joke this nation has become in the Bush years. Mukasey will play pre-tend-sies to make it all look good and official. Then it will get swept under the rug, kind of like that military grade Anthrax that was sent to Dems the days after 9/11 while Bush and his cabinet were secretly put on Cipro before the envelopes were even mailed. We are a joke nation.
eroded47095 @ 81:
Yes, it is getting closer. People are slowly connecting the dots. I can almost taste it.
This came out on 12/4/07:
"Former Italian President and the man who revealed the existence of Operation Gladio Francesco Cossiga has gone public on 9/11, telling Italy's most respected newspaper that the attacks were run by the CIA and Mossad and that this was common knowledge amongst global intelligence agencies.
Cossiga was elected President of the Italian Senate in July 1983 before winning a landslide 1985 election to become President of the country in 1985.
Cossiga gained respect from opposition parties as one of a rare breed - an honest politician - and led the country for seven years until April 1992.
Cossiga's tendency to be outspoken upset the Italian political establishment and he was forced to resign after revealing the existence of, and his part in setting up, Operation Gladio - a rogue intelligence network under NATO auspices that carried out bombings across Europe in the 60's, 70's and 80's."
They know. They all know. Every politician sitting in Washington knows. How unbearably stupid of them otherwise.
The percentage of people who think that the Government had something to do with 9/11 just jumped about 20 points today.
That's going to work.
:-)
If we all work together to pursue the fact based truth we can hound the Govt into giving up the truth of what they have done.
Like a great howling from the bowels of the earth the truth summons us all to rise high like mountains, to coalese into billions of droplets of truth to bust
the dam Mukasey tries to hold back as it disintegrates into a cloud of dust choking the lies of the administration.
Rise people of the US! Claim your destiny! Claim The Truth!
Guys kill 3000 people. Start wars and kill 1 million more people while stealing natural resources. Destroy all evidence linking them to said acts. Run a series of fake investigations. Guys deny deny eny. Media covers for guys. People accept domestic threat form within due to their dumbed down minds. Guys get away with it due to lack of evidence and complacent population. America changes. World changes. The dead stay dead. Americans are no longer what they once were. Looks like Bin Laden is a genius. Either that or the guys that run our country are as bad as Hitler and his gang ever were. Either way something inside all of us has died.
Paul in LA @ 66:
pass that spliff down this way, please. I need a hit.
Greg @ 62:
sorry, it's even better than that! the counsel is NOT going to be independent! ;)
Dogpile @ 85:
source that!
The Provokateur @ 82:
this is a show, brought to you complete with 6-minute commercial breaks, twice per 30-minute segment.
Ex-Canuck @ 57:
please reverse that! busch is the one who gorges himself on other men. where's jeffy gannon been hiding, anyway?
Come on. Mukasey hemmed and hawed his way around the subject of waterboarding during his confirmation hearing, with a visible tug on his leash by his master.
So, first up, this investigation is about the destruction of the tapes, not anything contained on them. Second, given Mukasey's tap dancing about the issue, I'd expect that the investigation will take great pains to specifically not address the question of interrogation techniques.
The reason for torture is clear, they use what you say agaisnt, so even if they pull your fingernails off, it is better not to incriminate yourself nomatter how much pain you are in.
An Honest Investigation? Maybe.
I just figured out why Bush is such a dick... He has a God complex! It explains everything!. Bush thinks he's God. Either that or he is taking that line..." One Nation under God" a little to seriously. If that's the case he is more of a re-re than I thought. Let's just try all of these fuck sticks for war crimes and get it over with. We don't need to waste resouces or money or even the damn paper for this worthless investigation.
Bush = terrorist
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