Heads I Win Tails You Lose

by digby

Mukasey’s Justice Department is working overtime to keep the scandal contained:

The Bush administration told a federal judge it was not obligated to preserve videotapes of CIA interrogations of suspected terrorists and urged the court not to look into the tapes’ destruction.

In court documents filed Friday night, government lawyers told U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy that demanding information about the tapes would interfere with current investigations by Congress and the Justice Department.

Sure, that makes sense. Except in the same article we see this:

The administration has taken a similar strategy in its dealings with Congress on the issue. On Friday, the Justice Department urged Congress to hold off on questioning witnesses and demanding documents because that evidence is part of a joint CIA-Justice Department investigation.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey also refused to give Congress details of the government’s investigation into the matter Friday, saying doing so could raise questions about whether the inquiry was vulnerable to political pressure.

So, basically the Justice Department lied to the judge. They don’t want congress asking any questions either.

I wish I could get outraged by all this, but I just can’t sunmmon up the requisite energy. I feel the same way I felt when Roberts and Alito handed down their first opinions and, by golly, they turned out to be rabid wingnuts after all. Whoddathunk?

Michael Mukasey is a Bush stooge. He wouldn’t have been nominated if he weren’t. His job is to provide cover until the Bush’s are out of office at which point he will join the cacophony of Villagers shrieking that the government must stop all the witch hunts and get on with more important business for the good of the country. And everyone who counts — from Newt Gingrich to Ben Nelson to David Broder — will agree that we’ve seen enough of this nasty partisan strife and it’s time to heal the nation’s wounds.

And America will live happily ever after.

Update: Emptywheel has more on this “request” to the court by the DOJ.

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