The chairman of the U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday Congress should probe the destruction of CIA videotapes of terrorist interrogations.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller, in an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," said there is no need for a special counsel to investigate. The Senate and House Intelligence Committees are best suited to probe the matter, the West Virginia Democrat said.

"I don't have anything against taping, because it works out for the benefit of the one who is being interrogated, because any, you know, bad treatment clearly comes up on that, and it also protects the person who's doing the interrogating by showing that he or she is doing it in the proper fashion," he said.

"But these particular tapes, I don't know why they were destroyed. And I also don't know why we didn't find out about that until 2006."

Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., also appearing on the show, agreed that lawmakers should investigate.

"Burning tapes, destroying evidence, I don't know how deep this goes," Hagel said. "Could there be obstruction of justice? Yes. How far does this go up in the White House -- who knew it? I don't know."  // Copyright 2007 by United Press International



Publication date: 10 December 2007   

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