Congress unbowed over CIA tapes

http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/-/1/hi/world/americas/7147234.stm

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Members of the US Congress are to press ahead with their own inquiry into the destruction of CIA interrogation tapes of al-Qaeda suspects.

They confirmed the inquiry despite a warning from the Bush administration that the agency will not co-operate.

The tapes are thought to have shown harsh treatment of terrorist suspects.

The lower house of Congress earlier approved a bill that would ban the CIA from using harsh interrogation techniques such as simulated drowning.

One senior Republican called the CIA arrogant and incompetent and said he was determined to hold it accountable for the destruction of the tapes.

"You've got a community that's incompetent... arrogant and... political and they don't believe that they are accountable to anybody," Peter Hoekstra said.

Jane Harman, a Democrat, said a request from the justice department for a delay smelt like "the cover-up of a cover-up".

The CIA says it destroyed the tapes to protect the identity of its agents.