By CALVIN WOODWARD, Associated Press Writer
December 9, 2007
WASHINGTON - A Senate Democratic leader said Sunday the attorney
general should appoint a special counsel to investigate the
CIA's destruction of videotaped interrogations of two suspected
terrorists.
Sen. Joe Biden, a Democratic presidential candidate and chairman
of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, cited Michael Mukasey's
refusal during confirmation hearings in October to describe
waterboarding as torture.
Mukasey's Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog
announced Saturday they would conduct a joint inquiry into
the matter. That review will determine whether a full investigation
is warranted. "He's the same guy who couldn't decide whether
or not waterboarding was torture and he's going to be doing
this investigation," said Biden, who noted that he voted
against making Mukasey the country's top law enforcer.
"I just think it's clearer and crisper and everyone will
know what the truth ... if he appoints a special counsel, steps
back from it," said Biden, D-Del.
That view was not shared fellow Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller
of West Virginia, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee,
who said Congress can get to the bottom of the matter. "I
don't think there's a need for a special counsel, and I don't
think there's a need for a special commission," he said. "It
is the job of the intelligence committees to do that."
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a member of the committee,
echoed that sentiment.
The Senate and House intelligence committees are both investigating
the destruction of the tapes and Hagel said one goal is to
know whether justice was obstructed and who in the White House
might have known about the fate of the tapes. Rockefeller,
citing the confidentiality of certain intelligence briefings,
said he could not comment on the existence of any other interrogation
tapes.
On the presidential campaign trail, Republican Sen. John McCain
of Arizona said destruction of the tapes "harms the credibility
and the moral standing of America in the world again. There
will be skepticism and cynicism all over the world about how
we treat prisoners and whether we practice torture or not." Rival
Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, questioned whether
the action was taken for security purposes "or to cover
somebody's rear end."
"If we're covering somebody's rear end, we need to expose
their rear end and kick their rear end for doing something
that's against the best interest of the United States," he
said.
Biden asserted the "easiest, straightest thing to do
is to take it out of the political realm, appoint a special
prosecutor and let them decide, and call call it where it is.
Is there a criminal violation? If there is, proceed. If not,
don't."
The spy agency's director, Michael Hayden, told CIA employees
Thursday that the recordings were destroyed out of fear the
tapes would leak and reveal the identities of interrogators.
He said the sessions were videotaped to provide an added layer
of legal protection for interrogators using new, harsh methods
authorized by President Bush as a way to break down the defenses
of recalcitrant prisoners.
The White House was scrambling over the weekend to determine
who in the administration knew about the tapes and when. That
includes Harriet Miers, who was a deputy White House chief
of staff in 2003. Miers became White House counsel in early
2005; she left that job in January.
"I think that Hayden is not to be the judge of whether
or not his ordering or his condoning the destroying of the
tapes was lawful," Biden said. "It appears as though
there may be an obstruction of justice charge here, tampering
with evidence, and destroying evidence. And this is I think
this is one case where it really does call for a special counsel.
I think this leads right into the White House. There may be
a legal and rational explanation, but I don't see any on the
face of it."
Hagel, a Republican often critical of the Bush administration
on national security and Iraq, said he finds it hard to believe
the White House did not know. "Maybe they're so incompetent" they
didn't, he said. "I don't know how deep this goes. Could
there be obstruction of justice? Yes. How far does this go
up in the White House, who knew it? I don't know."
Bush "has no recollection" of hearing about either
the tapes' existence or their destruction before being briefed
about it Thursday morning, White House press secretary Dana
Perino has said. She also said the president has "complete
confidence" in Hayden's handling of the matter
The tapes showed interrogations of Abu Zubaydah, the first
high-value detainee taken by the CIA in 2002. Zubaydah, under
harsh questioning, told CIA interrogators about alleged Sept.
11 accomplice Ramzi Binalshibh. The two men's confessions also
led to the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who the U.S.
government said was the mastermind behind the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks.
The other taped interrogations showed Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri,
the alleged mastermind of the 2000 attack on the USS Cole,
which left 17 U.S. sailors dead. He and Zubaydah are now being
held at Guantanamo Bay.
Biden spoke on "This Week" on ABC. Rockefeller and
Hagel appeared on "Face the Nation" on CBS; McCain
and Huckabee on "Fox News Sunday."
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