"It Boggles The Mind"

[babylonsister]

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/005095.php

"It Boggles The Mind"
By Paul Kiel - January 17, 2008, 4:31PM

There are good days in court, and there are bad days in court. From The New York Times:

A federal judge said Thursday that he was “disappointed” about how investigators from the Central Intelligence Agency handled videotapes documenting the harsh interrogation of Al Qaeda detainees, and that he was considering questioning agency officials who watched the tapes about why they made no record of them in their files.

The judge, Alvin K. Hellerstein of Federal District Court in Manhattan, said from the bench that he was stunned that the C.I.A. investigators had not kept records about the tapes, which were destroyed in 2005, even though the tapes were an important part of an internal C.I.A. review into interrogation methods.

“I’m asked to believe that actual motion pictures, videotapes, of the relationship between interrogators and prisoners were of so little value” that was no record of them was kept in C.I.A. investigative files, Judge Hellerstein said during a hearing over a freedom of information request involving the tapes.

“I just can’t accept it. If it came up in an ordinary case, it would not be credible,” the judge said, adding, “It boggles the mind.”

Actually things could have gone worse. The judge denied the ACLU's request to hold the CIA in contempt. But apparently he's not content to let the matter drop.

[Horse with no Name]

1. When has "the dog ate my homework" EVER been a good defense

in ANY court proceedings?
The problem is...that when the press stop covering what little they cover, that it's over. There is no oversight. There aren't even any hands slapped. They get away and move to the next murderous escapade. I've never seen ANYTHING like it.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

2. someone must have told CIA to destroy tapes?

perhaps the someone thought they may be damaging in the future?