The Pardon Pen

Bush has been exceptionally stingy with pardons and commutations so far, but it looks like it might be time to fill the old pardon pen inkwell. Thomas H Kean and Lee H. Hamilton, the bi-partisan co-chairs of the 9/11 commission, have written an op-ed in today's New York Times bluntly accusing the CIA and White House of obstructing their investigation.

The commission’s mandate was sweeping and it explicitly included the intelligence agencies. But the recent revelations that the C.I.A. destroyed videotaped interrogations of Qaeda operatives leads us to conclude that the agency failed to respond to our lawful requests for information about the 9/11 plot. Those who knew about those videotapes — and did not tell us about them — obstructed our investigation.

There could have been absolutely no doubt in the mind of anyone at the C.I.A. — or the White House — of the commission’s interest in any and all information related to Qaeda detainees involved in the 9/11 plot. Yet no one in the administration ever told the commission of the existence of videotapes of detainee interrogations.

When the press reported that, in 2002 and maybe at other times, the C.I.A. had recorded hundreds of hours of interrogations of at least two Qaeda detainees, we went back to check our records. We found that we did ask, repeatedly, for the kind of information that would have been contained in such videotapes.

It is hard to conjure up a scenario under which the concealment and destruction of the tapes was not a criminal act. George Tenet, Alberto Gonzalez, and David Addington are clearly in the cross-hairs, and Cheney and Bush are highly suspect. Glenn Greenwald has a detailed analysis in his post 9/11 Commission: Our investigation was "obstructed."

Attorney General Mukasey has begun an investigation, but the appointed prosecutor lacks independence - contrary to department guidelines - so the reality of the investigation is in doubt. If a real investigation ensues, there is likely to be blood, or at least pardons. Can the President pardon himself? Or he could imitate his father and just pardon enough to keep them quiet about his own crimes.