Rush Holt Makes the Call Official

Rush Holt called for Special Counsel over CIA tapes. Sure, Senator Biden had previously called for one publicly in a Q&A, but nothing is official in Washington unless the statement is on letterhead and stamped "received."

In a letter to Attorney General Mukasey, Congressman Holt of NJ requested the immediate appointment of a special counsel to investigate the creation and handling of two CIA interrogation tapes. Holt is a member of the Select Intelligence Oversight Panel. Meanwhile, down the hall, Silvestre Reyes, sat on his greased palms.

Holt said that neither the CIA nor the Justice Department can be trusted to take on the probe, and his letter lays out what he believes should be the focus of the special counsel's work:

1) the circumstances surrounding the CIA's creation, handling, destruction, and representations regarding its video or audio recording of detainee interrogations to the federal courts, the 9/11 Commission, and the Congress;

2) the legality of the activities contained on the recordings, considering the identity of the detainees involved, the reasons for their detentions, the nature of the information sought, and the methods used in the interrogations;

3) who within the executive branch had knowledge of the CIA's destruction of these records, including who authorized their destruction and who was informed of their destruction; and

4) whether any federal laws were broken as a result of the CIA's creation, handling, destruction and representations regarding said video or audio recordings of detainee interrogations to the federal courts, the 9/11 Commission, and the Congress.

Nothing will come of it, probably, but it's on the record now, future historians will be able to add this CIA tape thing to the list of scandals and crimes.  Keep them on the defensive about everything and keep feeding evidence into the narrative of lawbreaking Republicans run amok.  Well done.