WASHINGTON, Dec 11: The CIA chief was to be grilled by US lawmakers Tuesday over the destruction of videos showing the interrogation of suspected extremists, amid charges the agency covered up possible torture.

Michael Hayden, who will testify to the Senate Intelligence Committee behind closed doors Tuesday afternoon, revealed last week that tapes made in 2002 were destroyed in 2005 -- when Congress was investigating allegations that suspects were tortured.“This latest news of destroyed tapes raises far more questions than we have answers,” Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told the congressional upper house on Tuesday ahead of the hearing.

“Who was responsible for destroying the tapes? Was something being covered up? The possibility of obstruction of justice is very real,” he said.

The tapes, made before Hayden took up his post at the Central Intelligence Agency, reportedly show harsh interrogation methods, including “waterboarding,” a form of simulated drowning that human rights groups, lawmakers and a former CIA official describe as torture.

Retired agent John Kiriakou, who led a CIA team that captured and interrogated alleged Al-Qaeda suspect Abu Zubaydah, said using the “waterboarding” technique was torture, but was necessary and yielded crucial information.

“I have no doubt that the information gleaned from Abu Zubaydah stopped terror attacks and saved lives,” he told CNN news on Tuesday.

The technique involves covering a suspect’s mouth with material and pouring water over it, prompting a choking sensation that feels like drowning. Kiriakou said the method broke Zubaydah in about 30 seconds.

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.

The White House has stopped short of denying any involvement in the affair, while the Justice Department and the CIA’s internal watchdog have opened a preliminary inquiry.

Kiriakou told NBC news Tuesday that the decision to use waterboarding came from President George W. Bush’s administration.

“This was a policy decision that was made at the White House with concurrence from the National Security Council and Justice Department,” he said.—AFP