In its story about the CIA destroying interrogation videos, the WSJ added this interesting tidbit:

The tape destruction also likely will become problematic at future terrorism trials, because it will permit defense lawyers to raise the specter of a CIA coverup to cast doubt on government evidence. In the case of al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui, now serving a life sentence after pleading guilty, CIA lawyers told a federal-court hearing that interrogation videos did not exist.

This isn't the first time the Bush administration has made things harder on prosecutors by bringing government evidence into doubt.

When the White House politicized U.S. Attorneys' offices and corruption prosecutions, defense attorneys were able to argue with a straight face that prosecutions that might look political are political. (One former U.S. Attorney said, "It provides defendants an opportunity to make an argument that would not have been made two years ago.")

For that matter, when the White House started its warrantless-search program, and took the law into its own hands while tapping phones, it handed defense attorneys another gift. ("If I'm a defense attorney," one prosecutor said, "the first thing I'm going to say in court is, 'This was an illegal wiretap.' ")

When the White House isn't torturing detainees and destroying evidence, they're inadvertently helping keep bad guys out of jail. Heckuva job.