12.09.07
Perino: President Not ‘Aware’ of Torture Tapes
So what didn’t the President know, and when didn’t he know it?
December 7, 2007 — During the White House press briefing today, reporters bore into White House Press Secretary Dana Perino over when President Bush was first informed about the CIA’s destruction of videotapes in 2005 that featured agency officials using harsh interrogation tactics. Perino said that Bush had “no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday”.
PERINO: I spoke to the President, and so I will have to defer on the others. But I spoke to the President this morning about this. He has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday. He was briefed by General Hayden yesterday morning.If what Perino says is true, it means that members of Congress were more informed of the CIA’s activities than the president himself. In his letter to agency employees yesterday, CIA Director Michael V. Hayden stated that “leaders of Congressional oversight committees were fully briefed on the matter.”
You know, I personally do not think they’re focusing on the correct meaning of the sentence. While it’s true that “no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday” could, of course mean that he hadn’t been told. However, nobody in the administration seems to be in the slightest bit concerned that a conspiracy existed to keep this information from the President, and indeed to prevent him from doing his job. Not to mention that heads have surely not rolled.
But it could also mean that they told him but he forgot. Didn’t bother filing it. Nothing sinks in anymore. Not enough healthy brain cells to go around anymore.
Argh…
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