Achtung BabyWe’ve had some fun keeping track of the various muddled descriptions of the advice that White House lawyers gave the CIA about the torture tapes.
But The Washington Post has the clearest description yet of the unclear counsel:
When told that some high-ranking CIA officials were demanding that the tapes be destroyed, the White House lawyers “consistently counseled caution,” said one U.S. official familiar with Hayden’s testimony. Another source said that Harriet E. Miers followed up with a similar recommendation in 2005, making her the fourth White House lawyer “urging caution” on the action.
But: “other intelligence officials recalled White House officials being more emphatic at the first meeting that the videos should not be destroyed.” To be sure, all of-the-above could be true.
Meanwhile, there’s this:
[CIA Director Michael] Hayden’s message to lawmakers last week was that the White House officials neither advocated destroying the tapes nor counseled against their destruction.
Why so much confusion?
“People are trying to recall stuff that happened four or five years ago,” said [one former senior attorney for the CIA]. “They are trying to speak with honesty and candor, but they are also having to get ‘lawyered’ up themselves — they have to protect themselves.”
To be sure, their lawyers are “urging caution.”