Justice Dept investigating destroyed CIA tapes

By Deborah Charles

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Justice Department said on Saturday it had opened a preliminary investigation into the CIA's destruction of videotapes that showed terrorism suspects being subjected to severe interrogation techniques.

"The Department of Justice and the CIA announced today that the Justice Department's National Security Division initiated a preliminary inquiry in conjunction with the CIA's Office of Inspector General regarding the destruction of the interrogation tapes," Justice Department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said in a statement.

A preliminary inquiry is aimed at gathering initial facts to decide whether there is enough reason to launch a full investigation.

"I welcome this inquiry and the CIA will cooperate fully," CIA Director Michael Hayden said in a statement. "I welcome it as an opportunity to address questions that have arisen over the destruction back in 2005 of videotapes."

The probe comes just days after Hayden acknowledged that the CIA had made and destroyed videotapes documenting interrogations of terrorist suspects that used techniques critics have denounced as torture.

The United States has been widely criticized by European allies and human rights groups for methods like "waterboarding" in which prisoners are made to fear that they are drowning.

Hayden told employees in a letter that the videotapes were made in 2002 as part of a secret detention and interrogation program that began with the arrest of suspected al Qaeda lieutenant Abu Zubaydah.

The taping was discontinued later that year and the tapes -- which showed interrogations of two people using harsh techniques -- were destroyed in 2005. Hayden said in the letter the tapes were destroyed because they could pose a security risk because interrogators might be identified.