CIA Tapes: Time’s Poor Journalism

I saw this while browsing google news, and had to address it (even if only quickly).  Time writes in an article titled The Destroyed Tapes: A Boon for Conspiracy Theorists:

  The CIA has proved, once again, that the cover up is worse than the crime. Or at least let’s hope that’s the case.

How does Time’s Alex Wong make this judgement?  The evidence was destroyed!  The whole tilt of the article is a “fuss over nothing” fluff piece that obscures the seriousness of the crime.  Detainees may have been tortured, and evidence was destroyed.  You don’t need to be a conspiracy theorist to connect those dots.

You do have to be a journalist, apparently, not to see through even the most burningly obvious bullshit:

Hayden said the tapes were destroyed to protect the identities of the CIA interrogators from members of al-Qaeda and other terrorists who might try to retaliate. He also claims that the tapes were made to safeguard against unlawful treatment of detainees, and that they were only destroyed after it was confirmed that suspects were not being tortured.

So after those accused of torture assessed they were innocent, they were free to destroy the evidence?  Who buys this crap?  And who promptly turns around and tries to sell it to the American people?

Re-read the title of that article.  And that piece of the intro paragraph.  Got it?  Ok now read this:

At a time when Congressional Democrats are trying once again to pass a torture ban, it’s a given that the revelation is going to further inflame the torture debate — since the tapes apparently showed harsh interrogation techniques. The assumption will be that the CIA did not want the tapes seen in public because they are too graphic and could lead to indictments.

That’s from the same piece.  The one by Wong.  If the CIA was afraid the tapes would lead to indictments, might that suggest that there is at least a strong possibility suspicion is a normal response?  Wong ends his article with the line “If this sounds like paranoia, it is.”.  Wrong.  It is suspicion justified by the CIA’s actions.  It is the article’s faith in the CIA that is misplaced and worrisome.

I’m not sure if this was a brilliant article by Wong that a cowardly editor butchered, or if this is his idea of reporting.  Either way, we’re left with a media outlet playing a propaganda organ and dancing in front of it for the CIA’s benefit.  The cost is ours.