TORTURE
See No Evil

In 2002, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) videotaped its officials administering harsh interrogation tactics on two al Qaeda operatives, but three years later, destroyed at least two videotapes documenting the incidents. The New York Times reports that one of the interrogations captured on tape was that of Abu Zubaydah, a high-level al Qaeda militant who was subjected to waterboarding. The Times adds that the videos "were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that tapes documenting controversial interrogation methods could expose agency officials to greater risk of legal jeopardy." The destruction of the tapes occurred in the wake of the Abu Ghraib scandal and "CIA officers became concerned about a possible leak of the videos and photos." At the time, the CIA was led by Porter Goss. Current Director Michael Hayden defended the agency's actions, arguing that keeping them "posed a security risk." The revelation marks another legal and moral low for an administration that has rendered terrorism suspects to other countries to be tortured, argued for indefinite detention, signed off on secret torture memos, and committed potentially "grave breaches" of the Geneva Conventions.

DESTRUCTION OF EVIDENCE: "What matters here is that it was done in line with the law," Hayden said of the agency's tampering with evidence. Legal experts aren't buying that argument. Jennifer Daskal, senior counsel with Human Rights Watch, said destroying the tapes was illegal. "Basically this is destruction of evidence," she said. Daniel Marcus, a law professor at American University who served as general counsel for the 9/11 Commission, said if tapes were destroyed, "it's a big deal, it's a very big deal" because it could amount to obstruction of justice to withhold evidence being sought in criminal or fact-finding investigations. "The recordings were not provided to a federal court hearing the case of the terror suspect Zacarias Moussaoui," which had made formal requests to the CIA for such documentary evidence. The U.S. District Judge in the case, Leonie Brinkema, said she can no longer trust the CIA and other government agencies on how they represent classified evidence in terror cases. The tapes also were not provided to the 9/11 Commission, whose members "demanded a wide array of material and relied heavily on classified interrogation transcripts in piecing together its narrative of events." The ACLU "said the tapes were destroyed at a time when a federal court had ordered the CIA to comply with a Freedom of Information Act request."

CONGRESS' ROLE: In his agency's defense, Hayden said, "The leaders of our oversight committees in Congress were informed of the videos years ago and of the Agency's intention to dispose of the material. Our oversight committees also have been told that the videos were, in fact, destroyed." Hayden's statement didn't suggest that the congressional leaders approved of the destruction, however. Rep. Jane Harman (D-CA), who was ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee at the time, said, "I told the CIA that destroying videotapes of interrogations was a bad idea and urged them in writing not to do it." Then-ranking member of Senate Intelligence Committee John Rockefeller (D-WV) said, "While we were provided with very limited information about the existence of the tapes, we were not consulted on their usage nor the decision to destroy the tapes." Rockefeller does not deny, however, that he was informed of the agency's intent to dispose of the tapes, and he acknowledged that he learned of the destruction one year ago, in Nov. 2006. An official with the House Intelligence Committee told the Times, "This is a matter that should have been briefed to the full Intelligence Committee at the time. This does not appear to have been done."

CONGRESS TAKES KEY STEP TO END TORTURE: The startling disclosures of the CIA's destruction of videotapes "came on the same day that House and Senate negotiators reached an agreement on legislation that would prohibit the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics by the CIA and bring intelligence agencies in line with rules followed by the U.S. military." The measure, which needs approval from the full House and Senate, would require all American interrogators to abide by Army Field Manual. In doing so, the new law would "effectively set a government-wide standard for legal interrogations by explicitly outlawing the use of simulated drowning, forced nudity, hooding, military dogs and other harsh tactics against prisoners by any U.S. intelligence agency." White House Press Secretary Dana Perino said such a provision "is something the president has opposed in the past and that we would have a veto threat on."

Under the Radar

MILITARY -- MILITARY FAMILIES OVERWHELMINGLY REJECT IRAQ WAR: President Bush has long claimed the support of the military community for his war positions. "They know that the only way to stop them [terrorists] is to stay on the offense, to fight the extremists and radicals where they live, so we don't have to fight them where we live," Bush said last April. He added, "The families...understand that our troops want to finish the job." A new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll finds that "nearly 6 in 10 military families disapprove of Bush's job performance and the way he has run the war, rating him only slightly better than the general population does. Among those families with soldiers, sailors and Marines who have served in Iraq or Afghanistan, 60% say the war in Iraq was not worth the cost." Nearly 70 percent of families with veterans favor withdrawing troops from Iraq either immediately or within the next year, with only 26 percent favoring staying "as long as it takes." VetVoice has more.

IRAN -- PERINO DEFENDS BUSH'S NIE LIE: 'THE PRESIDENT WAS BEING TRUTHFUL!': Yesterday, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino attempted to defend President Bush's lie about when he first learned that Iran had halted its nuclear weapons program. On Wednesday night, Perino conceded he was told in August that Iran's program "may be suspended." Yesterday, Perino tried to claim that when Bush said he didn't know what the information was, he actually meant that "he didn't get any of the details of what -- what the information was, in terms of what the actual raw intelligence was." Perino added, "I can see where you could see that the president could have been more precise in that language. But the president was being truthful." As The Progress Report reported, The New Yorker's Seymour Hersh said that Bush spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert about the NIE on Monday, Nov. 26. CNN's Ed Henry asked Perino, "How could he brief Olmert on Monday about a report that he found out about on Wednesday?" Perino responded, "I don't -- I will check...it's possible that he knew that there was information coming."

IRAQ -- PETRAEUS CAUTIONS AGAINST CHENEY'S IRAQ VICTORY DECLARATION: In an interview with Politico this week, Vice President Cheney predicted that by the middle of Jan. 2009, Iraq will be a true "democracy in the heart of the Middle East," he declared. Gen. David Petraeus, however, quickly cautioned against such rhetoric from Washington. "There's nobody in uniform who is doing victory dances in the end zone," Petraeus said. "Nobody says anything about turning corners, seeing lights at the ends of tunnels, any of those other phrases." Several other Iraq war supporters including Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT) have rushed to declare victory in Iraq, defying the advice of generals on the ground. "Security progress" in Iraq is "significant yet still fragile," said Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Think Fast

President Bush's mortgage relief plan was "set by the mortgage industry and Wall Street firms. The effort is voluntary and it leaves plenty of wiggle room for lenders. Moreover, it would affect only a small number of subprime borrowers."

"Senate Republicans are planning to call for a congressional commission to investigate the conclusions of the new National Intelligence Estimate on Iran as well as the specific intelligence that went into it."

"In a sharp rebuke to White House counterterrorism policy," the Senate and House intelligence committees agreed last night to require all American interrogators to abide by the Army Field Manual, which prohibits coercive methods, effectively outlawing harsh techniques used by the CIA.

With just a week before News Corporation takes control of Dow Jones & Company, Rupert Murdoch plans to remove many executives in the "upper echelon at Dow Jones" and replace them with his "trusted lieutenants."

Late last night, the Senate "passed a one-year fix to the alternative minimum tax (AMT), setting up a potential confrontation with the House, which passed a much different version of the bill earlier." Due to GOP and White House pressure, the bill that passed does not offset the $50 billion cost of the patch.

The Federal Reserve yesterday revealed that "the amount of equity that U.S. homeowners hold in their homes slipped in the third quarter to the lowest level on record, just above 50 percent."

"House and Senate votes on the 2008 defense authorization bill could be held as early as next week after conferees agreed Thursday" to strip a provision extending hate-crimes protections to gays from the bill.

"At least 46,600 children along the Gulf Coast are still struggling with mental health problems and other serious aftereffects of 2005 hurricanes, according to a new study by the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and the Children's Health Fund."

And finally: World Bank staffers are "cheering the return of their traditional holiday parties under new President Robert Zoellick." Reportedly, former president Paul Wolfowitz "pulled the plug on holiday festivities" because they "were unseemly at an institution dedicated to fighting poverty. But the natives of 1818 H Street objected: 'Many employees groused that the parties had been a rare chance to socialize with colleagues.'"

Good News

In a 235-181 vote, the House approved the Energy Independence and Security Act yesterday, defying a veto threat from the White House.

State Watch

NEW YORK: New York's attorney general "has been handing out subpoenas to Wall Street in an effort to find out how banks bought subprime home loans and packaged them into complex securities."

CALIFORNIA: "A proposed initiative that drew national attention for its potential to affect next year's presidential election will not appear on the June ballot."

VIRGINIA: Sen. John Warner (R-VA) closes out three decades in the Senate "with a potentially historic" law on greenhouse gases.

Blog Watch

THINK PROGRESS: Former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee bumbles three times in one sentence, compounds his cluelessness on the Iran National Intelligence Estimate.

ESCHATON: CNN "postpones" documentary on "Iran Goes Nuclear."

BUZZ FLASH: Israeli newspaper claims Israeli defense officials knew of National Intelligence Estimate findings a month before President Bush says he knew.

WASHINGTON NOTE: Where's the congressional outrage over former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton's smearing of the entire intelligence community?

Daily Grill

"The Bush reaction to [the National Intelligence Estimate] -- he didn't try to block it. He didn't try to postpone it. ... He didn't try to spin it to our advantage. This is an amazing moment of candor by the United States."
-- Time columnist Joe Klein, 12/7/07

VERSUS

"I thought that Bush's reaction to it was, literally, incredible. As in, not to be believed...[an] utter failure to respond intelligently to the report."
-- Klein, 12/7/07