Motive

I've read in several places today that the DOJ investigation into the CIA tapes will probably not delve into whether the actions depicted on the tapes were crimes (i.e., torture) but only on whether the destruction of the tapes was criminal.

Frankly, I don't seen how you could possible conduct and investigation into the latter without also investigating whether the tapes themselves depicted a crime. After all, the central motive for destroying the tapes may well have been to cover up (destroy) the evidence of the crime which they depicted. How can you possibly conduct an investigation without delving into the issue of motive?

If this guy Durham is even a halfway decent lawyer, I can't imagine he would take on this task without authority to investigate whether the tapes themselves depicted a crime.

We'll see.