"Missing" evidence is familiar Bush pattern
(updated below - Update II)
The New York Times' revelation that "the Central Intelligence Agency in 2005 destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Al Qaeda operatives in the agency's custody" conclusively demonstrates obstruction of justice which, if Michael Mukasey has an ounce of integrity or independence, will be the subject of a serious and immediate criminal investigation. While the revelation is obviously significant, it is also is part of a long-standing pattern of such obstruction.
In April, I compiled a long list of the numerous court proceedings and other investigations which were impeded by extremely dubious claims from the Bush administration that key evidence was mysteriously "missing." Much of the "missing" evidence involved precisely the type of evidence that the CIA has now been forced here to admit it deliberately destroyed: namely, evidence showing the conduct of its agents during interrogation of detainees.
The most glaringly similar case was when, during the trial of Jose Padilla, DOJ prosecutors told the federal court that key videotapes of Padilla's interrogations by DOD agents, including the last interrogation they conducted of him, could not be located, a claim which -- for obvious reasons -- prompted expressions of incredulity from the Bush-appointed federal judge and virtually everyone else:
A videotape showing Pentagon officials' final interrogation of al- Qaida suspect Jose Padilla is missing, raising questions about whether federal prosecutors have lost other recordings and evidence in the case.
The tape is classified, but Padilla's attorneys said they believe something happened during that interrogation that could explain why Padilla does not trust them and suspects they are government agents. . . . .
U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke was incredulous that anything connected to such a high-profile defendant could be lost.
"Do you understand how it might be difficult for me to understand that a tape related to this particular individual just got mislaid?" Cooke told prosecutors at a hearing last month. . . .
Miami criminal defense lawyer David O. Markus said the missing tape makes the government agents look like "Keystone cops."
"You can't help but be suspicious," Markus said. "It's the government's burden to prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt. When it 'loses' evidence, defense lawyers are right to cry foul."
Not even the Bush administration could be so inept as to "lose" videotape records of the interrogations they conducted with one of the highest-profile "War on Terror" detainees, whose case had been the subject of intense judicial proceedings from the early stages of his lawless detention in 2002. The revelations yesterday of deliberate destruction of interrogation videos by the CIA obviously compels an investigation into how such videotapes in the Padilla case disappeared as well.
more...
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
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