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CIA boss faces tape interrogation CIA head testifies on wiped tapes
(1 day later)
The head of the CIA is due to testify to two key congressional intelligence committees, after it emerged tapes of two interrogations had been destroyed. The director of the CIA has been questioned by Congress over the wiping of videotaped interrogations amid fears over a possible a torture cover-up.
Gen Michael Hayden will face questioning amid ongoing concern over why the tapes were wiped in 2005. Some suggest a possible torture cover-up. Gen Michael Hayden told the House intelligence committee the CIA "could have done an awful lot better" in keeping Congress informed on the issue.
The CIA and the US justice department are investigating the tape destruction. He said he had no prior knowledge of plans to destroy the tapes.
Meanwhile, an ex-CIA agent has defended the use of "water-boarding", which critics say amounts to torture. Lawmakers said former CIA directors would also be summoned to testify in the investigation.
Speaking to ABC News, John Kiriakou said the technique, which simulates drowning, helped "break" a key al-Qaeda suspect. 'Full account'
The suspect, Abu Zubaydah, was said to be one of the men questioned in the deleted footage. Gen Hayden confirmed last week that the CIA had destroyed footage of two interrogations, saying the tapes were no longer of intelligence value and to protect the identities of agents.
A Palestinian, he was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Correspondents say there are suspicions that the decision was made to conceal evidence that terror suspects were being tortured.
Mr Kiriakou said the day after water-boarding was used on Abu Zubaydah, the detainee told his interrogator that Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to co-operate. WATER-BOARDING Prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round head. Water is poured onto face and is said to produce a fear of drowning class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/7138144.stm">Water-boarding scrutinised class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/7133579.stm">CIA boss faces credibility test class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=3922&edition=1">Send us your comments The CIA and the US justice department are also investigating the tape destruction.
"From that day on, he answered every question," the retired agent said. The interrogation tapes were made in 2002 and destroyed in 2005, a year before Gen Hayden was appointed director of the CIA.
Cover-up? But the director has come under pressure to explain the agency's decision to destroy the tapes.
The interrogation tapes were both made and destroyed before Gen Hayden was appointed director of the CIA in 2006. He has defended the decision, saying it was "done in line with the law".
WATER-BOARDING Prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round head. Water is poured onto face and is said to produce a fear of drowning class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/7138144.stm">Water-boarding scrutinised class="" href="/1/hi/world/americas/7133579.stm">CIA boss faces credibility test class="" href="http://newsforums.bbc.co.uk/nol/thread.jspa?forumID=3922&edition=1">Send us your comments But the director has come under pressure to explain the agency's decision to destroy the tapes. Gen Hayden was questioned by the House of Representatives select committee on intelligence on Wednesday, a day after testifying before its Senate counterpart.
Correspondents say there are suspicions that the decision was made to conceal evidence that terror suspects were being tortured in order to extract vital intelligence. He said he was unable to answer some of the lawmakers' questions, and would arrange for people who were more involved at the time to appear before the committees.
The New York Times reported on Tuesday that lawyers in a clandestine branch of the CIA gave written approval in advance for the destruction of the tapes, and said this could widen the scope of the investigation. The House committee's chairman, Silvestre Reyes, a Democrat, said Gen Hayden had promised "a full and complete accounting and record of everything that's available".
Gen Hayden has defended the decision, saying it was "done in line with the law". He said Gen Hayden's predecessors George Tenet and Porter Goss would be called to testify, as well as John Negroponte, formerly Director of National Intelligence, now Deputy Secretary of State.
The CIA says it destroyed the tapes to protect the identity of its agents. Water-boarding 'worked'
But Democrats have accused the agency of a cover-up to hide evidence of possible detainee torture. Wednesday's meeting came a day after a former CIA-agent said that water-boarding - a technique that simulates drowning - had been successfully used on one al-Qaeda suspect.
Struggle John Kiriakou told US broadcaster ABC that suspected al-Qaeda chief recruiter Abu Zubaydah, had cooperated after he was subjected to the practice.
Speaking on Monday, Mr Kiriakou told ABC News he had wrestled with the moral implications of using so-called "enhanced techniques" on prisoners. Abu Zubaydah is understood to be one of the men who was shown in the deleted footage.
John Kiriakou said he had changed his views in the years since 9/11"Like a lot of Americans, I'm involved in this internal, intellectual battle with myself - weighing the idea that water-boarding may be torture, versus the quality of information that we often get after using the water-boarding technique," he said.
"And I struggle with it."
But on Tuesday he shifted responsibility from the CIA to the White House, saying the decision to use certain interrogation techniques did not rest with people like him.
"This was a policy made at the White House, with concurrence from the National Security Council and justice department," he told NBC TV.
Human rights groups say that water-boarding - and other techniques allegedly used by the CIA - can be defined as torture under various international treaties to which the US is a signatory.Human rights groups say that water-boarding - and other techniques allegedly used by the CIA - can be defined as torture under various international treaties to which the US is a signatory.
The administration of US President George W Bush has always maintained it does not allow the use of torture. The Bush administration has always maintained that it does not allow the use of torture.