Destruction of Interrogation Tapes

Does anyone believe the CIA's story about why it destroyed the interrogation tapes?

I mean, this is the kind of thing that I would have believed seven years ago. I really would have. But not now.

But also, and among other reasons, I don't buy the reason given: that interrogators might have been identified. Electronic copies could have been made in which faces and voices were distorted or blacked out.

I have to remind myself all the time now to not view things said by the government in the ways that I used to view such things. A heuristic I use goes like this: pretend you've been transported to another country, one with a marginally democratic and marginally trustworthy government. Think about how you'd regard this claim if made by that government. That's how you should regard this claim. Cartoonish as this little game is, I'm so used to having a fair amount of trust in the American government that if I don't do something like this I'm overly credulous.

Sad days.