Top democrats in the US Congress have sought the investigation into the destruction of two videotapes that documented harsh interrogations of terror suspects by the Justice Department.
The top US Congress democrates also slammed the Bush administration and the CIA on this regard.
"The nation learned the CIA had destroyed videotapes of its employees in the act of using torture or other harsh interrogation techniques on detainees. Those tapes were not shown to Congress. They were not shown to any court. They were not shown to the bipartisan 9/11 Commission. Instead, they were destroyed," senior Democrat Edward Kennedy said in prepared remarks delivered on the Senate floor.
"What would cause the CIA to take this action? The answer is obvious -- cover up. The agency was desperate to cover up damning evidence of their practices," the senator said.
In a letter to agency employees on Thursday, CIA Director Michael Hayden claimed that the tapes were a security risk because they might some day "leak" and thereby identify the CIA employees who engaged in these practices. But that excuse won't wash, Kennedy said.
"It is particularly difficult to take the Director's explanation at face value when the news that these tapes were destroyed came the very same week that we learned that as many as ten million White House e-mails have not been preserved, despite a law that requires their retention," Kennedy who sits as a senior member of the Judiciary Committee, said.
"These efforts are wrong, and they must be stopped. I and other concerned Senators will call upon Attorney General to immediately begin an investigation into whether the CIA's destruction of these tapes violated the law," Kennedy said. - DDNEWS
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