Congress, Bush in clash over CIA interrogation tapes

[babylonsister]

Congress, Bush in clash over CIA interrogation tapes

Sat Dec 15, 5:11 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Congress and President George W. Bush were headed for confrontation Saturday as US lawmakers accused the Justice Department of blocking their probe into whether the CIA tried to cover up torture by destroying interrogation tapes.

Lawmakers from both parties expressed outrage after Bush's Attorney General Michael Mukasey asked a congressional panel to postpone its investigation of the destroyed videotapes on grounds it could jeopardize the Justice Department's own inquiry into the affair.

"Earlier today, our staff was notified that the Department of Justice has advised CIA not cooperate with our investigation," said a statement Friday from the Democratic chair of the House intelligence committee, Silvestre Reyes, and the ranking Republican, Pete Hoekstra.

"We are stunned that the Justice Department would move to block our investigation. Parallel investigations occur all the time, and there is no basis upon which the attorney general can stand in the way of our work," the statement said.

"It is clear that there's more to this story than we have been told, and it is unfortunate that we are being prevented from learning the facts," it added.

The two lawmakers threatened to issue subpoenas to obtain relevant information and to force Central Intelligence Agency officials to testify if the Justice Department refused to back down.

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20071215/pl_afp/usattacksintelligenceciatorture;_ylt=AuBZ1MAwohMovnskd9sUOx.s0NUE

[goforit]

1. 100 to 1 Bush will win on this one.

[DemGa]

2. "it is unfortunate that we are being prevented from learning the facts"

Yes it is, it certainly is unfortunate.

[Disturbed]

3. It's all a viscious game. If Congress was serious they would

issued Subpoenas for the Interrogation Transcripts. If those were not forthcoming within a week they would have Issues Inherent Contempt. It is obvious that Congress is not serious about this or the Criminal acts of Busholini & his Criminal Regime.

[JDPriestly]

4. These idiots in Congress never seem to learn.

Republicans cheat. Republicans cheat at everything they do. That has pretty much been my experience. I worked with a guy in the recent past who was such a cheat that I stopped working with him. Of course, he was a Bible-quoting, God-naming, Coulter-reading Republican -- the worst kind.

Time was I gave Republicans the benefit of the doubt. And I have a sister who is a Republican. I don't think she cheats, but I'm beginning to wonder because we tend to become like the people with whom we spend a lot of time

Republicans cheat about everything. They cheat about their sexual orientation. They cheat about whether they go to prostitutes. They cheat in business. They cheat in politics. Of course, when they have the power, they cheat about the law.

You cannot play with Republicans. They will not play by your rules. You cannot sit down and negotiate with the Republicans. Edwards says it beautifully. If you sit down at the table with them, they will grab all the food and leave you hungry. Edwards knows that the election was stolen in 2004. He remembers the Swiftboating and all the dirty tricks right down to the fixed vote counts. He is our best candidate in my opinion.

[Bitwit1234]

5. Explain this to me...

Murkycrap told congress he's not going to investigate the destroying of the tapes, because he doesn't want to make it political...BUT bush has jumped in and told Murkycrap not to investigate, and I haven't heard a word about THAT being political...

So if the Democrats want it investigated it is political.
If bush doesn't want it investigated, no no that's not political.

So he continues right where gonzales left off doesn't he.

[JDPriestly]

6. It is my understanding that Mukasey is claiming the CIA had no

statutory duty to refrain from destroying the tapes. Apparently this may turn into a discovery battle. A party can lose a whole lawsuit because it destroyed important evidence. So even if Congress cannot get to the bottom of this, the government could be have serious legal problems as a result of its having destroyed the tapes. I wonder if the tapes have really been destroyed. It is possible, even probable in my view, that someone somewhere is hiding something on this.

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Bush_Administration_We_were_not_legally_1215.html