The Dog Ate My Homework

oops.

MIAMI (AP) - A videotape showing Pentagon officials' final interrogation of al-Qaida suspect Jose Padilla is missing, raising questions about whether federal prosecutors have lost other recordings and evidence in the case.

The tape is classified, but Padilla's attorneys said they believe something happened during that interrogation that could explain why Padilla does not trust them and suspects they are government agents.

Padilla attorney Anthony Natale said in court papers that the March 2, 2004, interrogation at the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., could contain information the government conveyed to Padilla that "directly impacts upon his relationship with his attorneys."

Prosecutors and the Pentagon have said they cannot find the tape despite an intensive search.

Authorities made 88 video recordings of Padilla being interrogated during the 3 1/2 years he was held at the brig as an "enemy combatant," officials said. Eighty-seven tapes have been given to the defense, leaving only the last session unaccounted for.

"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.

Maybe we could get the FBI to find it with a National Security Letter.

There are times when "accident" is just not a plausible explanation. Those times come more frequently when the excuse comes from a source with noted pre-existing credibility problems.

Am I really supposed to believe that, having been given extraordinary new powers amidst loudly expressed concerns that it could easily be abused and that safeguards were essential, FBI Director Mueller somehow just 'forgot' to put in place mechanisms for making sure the were scrupulously observed? And that, while he admits that he should be held accountable for his agency repeatedly breaking the law and violating the rights of the people he is sworn to protect, he has not resigned and has no plans to?

Sorry, Director Mueller. I'm too busy trying to swallow your boss's assertion that his dismissal of eight US Attorneys was in no way political.

And the Pentagon 'accidentally' losing one recording of a Jose Padilla interrogation? I'm not even gonna try to buy that one.