Jay Rockefeller Ought to Recuse Himself from Anything to Do with Destroyed CIA Tapes
Biden Wants Special Counsel in Tape Case
By CALVIN WOODWARD The Associated Press Monday, December 10, 2007; 12:55 AM
WASHINGTON -- A Senate Democratic leader said Sunday the attorney general should appoint a special counsel to investigate the CIA's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected terrorists.
Sen. Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, cited Michael Mukasey's refusal during confirmation hearings in October to describe waterboarding as torture.
Mukasey's Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog announced Saturday they would conduct a joint inquiry into the matter. That review will determine whether a full investigation is warranted. "He's the same guy who couldn't decide whether or not waterboarding was torture and he's going to be doing this investigation," said Biden, who noted that he voted against making Mukasey the country's top law enforcer.
"I just think it's clearer and crisper and everyone will know what the truth is ... if he appoints a special counsel, steps back from it," said Biden, D-Del.
That view was not shared fellow Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, who said Congress can get to the bottom of the matter. "I don't think there's a need for a special counsel, and I don't think there's a need for a special commission," he said. "It is the job of the intelligence committees to do that."
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How herd-like of a Congress that has yet to appoint a single independent counsel other than in the matter of a White House Valerie Plame leak.
The most criticized, vilified, crooked and lying administration since Ulysses Grant seems to be teflon-coated as the country slides out from under us. Under Democratic majority, the beat goes on, more and more obviously because of an equal dependence on the fruits of lobbyists.
Jay Rockefeller is purported to be one of the Senators who was advised of and acceded to (by lack of complaint) illegal and immoral uses by the CIA of torture.
Torture, Jay. That's what it is. Torture, Nancy. Say the word.
So, if Joe Biden comes along with the perfectly logical proposal to bring in an independent investigator, who can argue with that? Being a presidential candidate is not a problem--while everyone scurries for 'position,' Joe is the straightest shooter of the bunch, possibly because he has no chance.
Jay Rockefeller isn't running for president, but he for sure has an interest to protect in this matter and ought to recuse himself from even so much as an opinion.
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