Yesterday, Attorney General Mike Mukasey announced a DoJ probe into the CIA’s torture tape destruction. The Washington Post’s Dan Froomkin raises the question of whether the probe will investigate the roles of Vice President Dick Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington:
Cheney has been the administration’s central figure on all things related to torture. [...]
So it should have come as no surprise when the New York Times reported last month that David S. Addington, Cheney’s chief of staff and former legal counsel, was among the three White House lawyers who participated in at least one key meeting about the videotapes in 2004.
The initial spin from the White House was that only Harriet E. Miers, then a deputy White House chief of staff, had been briefed about the tapes — and that she had advised against their destruction.
But with anything related to torture, it’s pretty clear the CIA took its orders from Cheney — via Addington. And how plausible is it that, in his exchanges with the CIA, Addington advised against the tapes’ destruction? Or that the CIA would have done it if he had told them not to? Isn’t it more likely that he supported the idea, either overtly or with a nod and a wink?
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