9/11 commissioners say they were conned by the CIA

A review of classified documents by former members of the Sept. 11 commission shows that the panel made repeated and detailed requests to the Central Intelligence Agency in 2003 and 2004 for documents and other information about the interrogation of operatives of Al Qaeda, and were told by a top C.I.A. official that the agency had “produced or made available for review” everything that had been requested.

Now it's a matter of finding out whether this is punishable under federal law.  According to the report in the New York Times:

In interviews this week, the two chairmen of the commission, Lee H. Hamilton and Thomas H. Kean, said their reading of the report had convinced them that the agency had made a conscious decision to impede the Sept. 11 commission’s inquiry.

Mr. Kean said the panel would provide the memorandum to the federal prosecutors and congressional investigators who are trying to determine whether the destruction of the tapes or withholding them from the courts and the commission was improper.

The CIA's attempt to dodge this bullet is classic Bushit.

A C.I.A. spokesman said that the agency had been prepared to give the Sept. 11 commission the interrogation videotapes, but that commission staff members never specifically asked for interrogation videos.

Don'cha just love this administration?   So now Senators Leahy and Specter are mad and they're doing something about it.

On Friday, the leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey and to Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, asking them to preserve and produce to the committee all remaining video and audio recordings of “enhanced interrogations” of detainees in American custody.

Signed by Senator Patrick Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, the letter asked for an extensive search of the White House, C.I.A. and other intelligence agencies to determine whether any other recordings existed of interrogation techniques “including but not limited to waterboarding.”

Comments

[Dan]

Leahy and Specter are the Laurel and Hardy of the Senate.

[PW]

You flatter them.

I remember being horrified when watching Leahy during the Gonzales (yes, way back then!) confirmation hearings. Leahy looked like a smart man who's been fed a drug which incapacitated him. It was very, very odd. He nodded and squinted and mumbled pro forma responses to the most blatantly dishonest declarations coming from AG.

[Ron G]

"... Senators Leahy and Specter are mad and they're doing something about it."

I'll believe it when I see it.

"... sent a letter ... asking them to ... produce ... all remaining ... recordings."

Ask?!? Go raid the place! And why not "all information potentially related" to the issue? Their wording leaves too many loopholes, which is what gave them the trouble in the first place.

[PW]

Can't argue with that, Ron. Members of Congress may wind up paying a price for their complicity. One hopes...