The Bush administration is starting to have trouble keeping all its people in line on the waterboarding issue, a pesky problem the White House can't seem to put behind it. Today, perhaps to protect against speculation that the CIA destroyed interrogation tapes to hide harsh treatment of detainees, CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden said for the fist time that waterboarding was prohibited by the CIA in 2006 and hasn't been used by as a tactic by the Agency in more than 5 years.
These comments might make the administration argument that waterboarding is not a form a torture that much more difficult, while also drawing more attention to the issue. A piece in this morning's New York Times revealed that the CIA did not disclose existence of the tapes to a federal judge looking for such evidence, and disposing of them while his requests were still pending. This sudden disclosure from Hayden might be a move to show that the CIA had nothing to hide.
