CIA's Destruction Of Interrogation Tapes Sounds Like Obstruction Of Justice

[maddezmom]

So it has come to this in a nation governed by the rule of law: an agency of the executive branch, apparently advised by the White House and Justice Department not to destroy vital legal and historical evidence, does so anyway, in its own name, for its own purposes and without first taking it to the courts.

Already we are hearing familiar justifications for why the Central Intelligence Agency evidently took it upon itself to destroy tapes of terror interrogation sessions. Even though the tapes at the time were material to a pending capital case and had enormous historical value, the CIA now claims it trashed them in the name of national security, for the safety of the interrogators (whose identities our best spies apparently were unable to conceal) and to eliminate potentially incriminating evidence against the men.

But, as the investigations heat up and as the legislators cry foul, there is no spinning the irony in the fact that the people who may have covered up a crime by destroying evidence are much more likely to get into much more trouble than are the men asking the questions on those tapes. This is so even if some unknown lawyer at the CIA gave agency officials permission to eliminate the tapes.

Let's look at the underlying "crime" first. Even if intelligence officials or military personnel "tortured" certain detainees - and, really, does anyone anymore believe they did not? - a virtual fortress of legal and political precedent would have protected them from prosecution in our civilian courts (or anywhere else). Just look at how hard it is proving to prosecute civilian contractors whose conduct allegedly resulted in mass murder. No national security defenses there, right?

more:http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/12/10/opinion/courtwatch/main3597587.shtml