Tuesday, December 11, 2007

CIA CHIEF GRILLED ON TORTURE TAPES

CIA chief grilled on torture tapes

By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington

Published: December 11 2007 20:11 Last updated: December 11 2007 23:24


General Michael Hayden, Central Intelligence Agency director, was grilled on Capitol Hill on Tuesday over the destruction of videotapes showing the interrogation of two al-Qaeda members.

The CIA has come under intense scrutiny following the revelation that interrogators videotaped the questioning of Abu Zubaydah, an alleged 9/11 planner, and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, the alleged mastermind of the 2000 bombing of the destroyer USS Cole in Aden, and later destroyed the tapes.

The justice department and CIA inspector-general have launched an investigation into the destruction of the tapes. Gen Hayden was appearing before a closed-door session of the House and Senate intelligence committees, which are also investigating the incident.

George W. Bush, US president, on Tuesday said he first learned that the tapes had been destroyed in a briefing by Gen Hayden last week.

“There’s a preliminary inquiry going on and I think you’ll find that a lot more data, facts will be coming out, that’s good,” Mr Bush told ABC news. “It will be interesting to know what the true facts are.”

Jay Rockefeller, chairman of the Senate intelligence committee, described Gen Hayden’s testimony as useful but “not complete”. The CIA director is scheduled for a second day of questions on Wednesday.

Comments by a former CIA operative have fuelled the affair. John Kiriakou, who was involved in the interrogations of Mr Zubaydah, this week told ABC news that the CIA subjected Mr Zubaydah to waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning. On Tuesday he told NBC the policy to use waterboarding was approved by the White House. Dana Perino, White House press secretary, refused to discuss the case but said the US did not use torture.

Mr Kiriakou said interrogators used waterboarding on Mr Zubaydah after he refused to co-operate and that the technique was immediately effective, forcing him to break down in 35 seconds. Other reports have suggested that the al-Qaeda operative told interrogators what they wanted to hear to stop the waterboarding.

Critics have accused the CIA of destroying the tapes to hide evidence that the US tortured detainees captured in the “war on terror”, interrogating them in secret prisons worldwide. Gen Hayden said the move was taken to protect the identity of interrogators. Some members of Congress have disputed claims by the CIA that lawmakers were notified of the intent to destroy the tapes.

Some senators have questioned whether the justice department can conduct a fair investigation given that Michael Mukasey, the new attorney-general, refused to classify waterboarding as torture during his confirmation hearing.

On Tuesday he said he had not reviewed justice department legal opinions to come to a conclusion on whether the technique should be considered torture.

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