CIA lawyers approved the decision to destroy videotapes showing agency operatives using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists, Mark Mazzetti and Scott Shane of the The New York Times report.  The next question is who gave the order to destroy them.  High-ranking White House officials (including the president) have said they were unaware of the decision.  Defendants in terror cases are arguing that evidence prejudicial to the government’s case may have been destroyed.  Read more.

U.S. Army officials overseeing the Iraqi national police force say its performance is improving, while others have recommended the force be disbanded.  Ann Scott Tyson writes in the Washington Post that an earlier classified review conducted by the Army concluded that the national police was dominated by Shiite forces, had engaged in ethnic killings, and was "not viable in its current form."  But today U.S. military officials and some Iraqi officials are calling for the force to be preserved and consolidated.  Read more.