A long time ago when AOL Newsbloggers first started, I had a debate with the Powerline guys about Jose Padilla. One of the elements of that debate was a missing interrogation tape. I was incredulous -- as was the judge in the case -- that a critical interrogation tape simply disappeared. Paul Mirengoff and John Hinderaker, on the other hand, were more than happy to trust the government, as is their nature (as long as the government is a Republican one).

Well, it turns out that the CIA has indeed destroyed several interrogation tapes after all. This was not an honest mistake where the tapes were misplaced. They took evidence and threw it in the garbage. Now, they might be facing obstruction of justice charges. Whoops.

It's almost as if you shouldn't blindly trust what your government tells you. It's almost as if our whole constitution is built on the premise that you shouldn't blindly trust your government.

Now, this case is not the same as the Padilla case. In this instance, CIA Director Michael Hayden is referring to the tapes of two other interrogations. But while Congress is investigating these tapes, they shouldn't forget to ask about the "missing" Padilla interrogation tape, either.

What happened to the Padilla tape? Was it also destroyed? Are the two cases connected? If the Padilla interrogation tapes were destroyed, what implication does that have on his trial?

But, first and foremost, the CIA should tell us what really happened to the tape of Jose Padilla's interrogation.

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The New York Times is reporting that the judge in the Padilla case is incredulous that the government could have misplaced the recording of the last interrogation of Jose Padilla. Here's a quote from the article:

''I don't know what happened to it,'' Pentagon attorney James Schmidli said during a recent court hearing.

U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke was incredulous that anything connected to such a high-profile defendant could be lost.

''Do you understand how it might be difficult for me to understand that a tape related to this particular individual just got mislaid?'' Cooke told prosecutors at a hearing last month.

Read the whole article here.

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Curly Sanjaya (left) and Paula Sanjaya (right)


CNN's Christiane Amanpour (left) and Terror suspect Jose Padilla (right)