Why can't the white house do a better job avoiding it seeming that whenever the president answers a questions, he seems to be giving "hard to believe" answers.?
Doesn't it seem implausible that one of his closest "favorites", Harriet, would NOT have impressed "the tapes" issue on Bush's mind....maybe even asked him for direction on the issue....for him to remember, and not answer ABC's "Marhta", the way he did on Tuesday, Dec. 11?
Quote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/08/wa...rssnyt&emc=rss
C.I.A. Was Urged to Keep Interrogation Videotapes
By MARK MAZZETTI
Published: December 8, 2007
....The first notification to Congress by the C.I.A. about the videotapes was delivered to a small group of senior lawmakers in February 2003 by Scott W. Muller, then the agency’s general counsel. Government officials said that Mr. Muller had told the lawmakers that the C.I.A. intended to destroy the interrogation tapes, arguing that they were no longer of any intelligence value and that the interrogations they showed put agency operatives who appeared in the tapes at risk.
At the time of the briefing in February 2003, the lawmakers who advised Mr. Muller not to destroy the tapes included both Mr. Goss and Representative Jane Harman of California, who was the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. Ms. Harman described her role on Friday. Mr. Goss’s role was described by former intelligence officials.
According to two government officials, Mr. Muller then raised the idea of destroying the tapes during discussions in 2003 with Justice Department lawyers and with Harriet E. Miers, who was then a deputy White House chief of staff. Ms. Miers became White House counsel in early 2005.
The officials said that Ms. Miers and the Justice Department lawyers had advised against destroying the tapes, but that it was not clear what the basis for their advice had been.
A message left at Mr. Muller’s law office on Friday was not returned, and White House officials would not comment about Ms. Miers’s role.....
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Quote:
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalra...-didnt-kn.html
December 11, 2007 11:48 AM
ABC News' Martha Raddatz Reports: In an exclusive interview with ABC News President Bush said Tuesday he did not know about the destruction of CIA videotapes of detainee interrogations.
The President said he was told just a few days ago.
"My first recollection of whether the tapes existed or whether they were destroyed was when [CIA Director] Michael Hayden briefed me," Bush said.
"There's a preliminary inquiry going on and I think you'll find that a lot more data, facts will be coming out," he said, "that's good. It will be interesting to know what the true facts are."
The President made the remarks to ABC News as part of a day-in-the-life series ABC News' White House correspondent Martha Raddatz is shooting with the President. ....
....Perino told reporters this week that the President has no recollection of hearing about the tapes' existence or their destruction before being briefed about it last Thursday......
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