Criminal Inquiry On C.I.A. Tapes

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Reported in today's N.Y. Times: Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey said Wednesday that the Justice Department had elevated its inquiry into the destruction of Central Intelligence Agency interrogation videotapes to a formal criminal investigation headed by a career federal prosecutor. Here's the link for the entire story: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/03/washington/03intel.html?ex=1200027600&en=f86e1d423292fcd3&ei=5040&partner=MOREOVERNEWS Also from the Times story: The tapes were never provided to the courts or to the Sept. 11 commission, which had requested all C.I.A. documents related to Qaeda prisoners. The question of whether to destroy the tapes was for nearly three years the subject of deliberations among lawyers at the highest levels of the Bush administration. It's been reported there may have been some serious criminal acts committed by high ranking Administration officials; just how "high" isn't yet known but it could go all the way to the top. So, what's your opinion on this? Do you agree with the criminal inquiry, do you think it should go further, perhaps with the appointment of a special counsel as in the Valerie Plame case, or do you think it should just be forgotten about, as obviously had been the hope when the tapes were destroyed? The chair and co-chair of the 9/11 Commission have co-authored an op-ed in which they said these tapes being withheld from the commission may constitute a criminal act; I tend to agree with them. Annie