Press secretary Dana Perino said she had spoken to the president and "He has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday" when he was briefed by Hayden, she said.

NPR: CIA Concedes It Destroyed Al Qaida Tapes

Netanyahu's decision to torpedo a proposed law that would have prevented the implementation of the Supreme Court-ordered destruction of the Givat Haulpana neighborhood in Beit El has made these Likud members perceive themselves as isolated and in danger.

CENTERFORSECURITYPOLICY: Defeating the Jewish Alinskyites

The asteroid that has made the space community sit up and take notice is nicknamed Apophis, after the Egyptian god of destruction.

CNN: Space's threat to civilization

But the army says it has learned from earlier mistakes made at the Johnston Atoll chemical-weapons incinerator in the Pacific, where destruction of chemical weapons was said to have caused damage to the local ecosystem.

ECONOMIST: Chemical weapons