Sunday, December 16, 2007

Nothing up my sleeve

There's a lot of news about tapes of torture having been destroyed by the CIA. There is a reason why those tapes are important. A defendant can have evidence thrown out if such evidence was obtained through torture. But the defendant must prove that torture was involved. Destroy the tapes, no more evidence of torture. Along with news of the tapes is news of how torture was handled. The military or contract grunts didn't decide on their own who got "enhanced interrogation techniques." Each case needed approval from very high up the chain of command -- such as from Bush himself. Congress wants to investigate. Attorney General Mukasey is stalling, saying he wants to avoid, "any perception that our law enforcement decisions are subject to political influence." Huh? Such political influence has been obvious for a long time, it's what drove his predecessor from the job. The AG is supposed to be cleaning up that influence, not protecting it.

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