WASHINGTON: The director of the CIA was questioned for a second time by lawmakers on Wednesday, amid anger that the spy agency destroyed videos allegedly depicting the torture of terror suspects.
“We’ll lay out the facts and will be very happy to let the facts take us where they will,” CIA chief Michael Hayden said ahead of Wednesday’s closed-door hearing.
But the controversy is set to grow, with the White House insisting the United States does not practice torture, even as a former CIA interrogator has broken ranks to reveal that detainees were subjected to “waterboarding.” Hayden, who was not the head of the Central Intelligence Agency at the time the tapes were destroyed, was appearing before the House Intelligence Committee, after being questioned Tuesday by the Senate Intelligence Committee.
The scandal was triggered when Hayden revealed last week in a letter to CIA staff that the tapes made in 2002 were destroyed in 2005, just as Congress was investigating allegations of US abuse of “war on terror” detainees. Hayden has denied the use of torture and said the tapes, intended as an internal check on how interrogations were carried out, were destroyed to prevent any leak that could identify and endanger CIA agents.
But the tapes reportedly showed harsh interrogation methods, including “waterboarding,” denounced as torture by human rights groups, lawmakers and a former CIA employee. The technique involves covering a suspect’s mouth with material and repeatedly pouring water over it, prompting a choking sensation that feels like drowning.
