No, their "excuse" was that it might have exposed the identities of CIA agents.

Supposedly, so far, the story line is that they made the tapes for two purposes: a) for "analytical" purposes, and b) for "instructional" purposes. According to the official line, there was no other purpose.

So then, the reason they were destroyed is because there was video footage of actual agents who are now (or were, or will be) in the field.

That's the "story".

It is kinda suspicious though, how this particular video footage, appears to somehow have been magically selected for destruction at this particular time. That part is definitely suspicious. On the other hand, it's the Prez's call, right? I mean, that's what this CIA thing is, right? All the Prez has to do is issue a "finding" or a "directive", and boom, it becomes national policy. There's very little in the way of direct "checks and balances" in that particular pathway. There's no one from Congress sitting there looking over the Prez's shoulder to make sure he's doing the right thing, in relation to the orders he issues to the CIA. The Intelligence Committees only get that information "after the fact", if at all, and it's entirely the President's call whether he wants to share it with them or not.

So, you know, I mean, how I kinda see this, is it's "par for the course" in terms of the way Bushie operates, and in the global scheme of all the things he's doing during his tenure, this, isn't really "all that bad". You know, in typicall fashion, it's "legal" but "ethically questionable", and so no one can touch the guy from a "letter of the law" standpoint, even though there are plenty of questions about his ethics and his character and his morality and his "modus operandi".

And then there's the whole separate issue of using torture as an instrument of national policy.

So, I mean, I'd be concerned about the latter, and "hardly at all" about the former. The former is like a "given", and a "done deal", and all we gotta do is wait 348 more days to get rid of Bushie "forever", so... I'm okay with that.

That latter piece though, that whole issue is going to continue "after" Bushie - in fact, IMHO it's gonna be kinda interesting to see how this plays out in the Giuliani campaign (or whoever it is that ends up getting nominated on the Republican side). 'Cause you know, McCain won't stand for torture, but Giuliani just might, depending on the political ramifications. That one oughta be kinda interesting.