Democrats condemn CIA tape destruction

WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. Congressional Democrats want to know whether laws were broken when the CIA destroyed videotapes of interrogations of two al-Qaida suspects.

Sens. Richard Durbin, of Illinois, and Edward Kennedy, of Massachusetts, said the tapes should have been protected for legal and historical purposes, CNN reported Saturday.

U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasy should investigate whether laws were broken by "CIA officials who covered up the existence of these videotapes," Durbin said from the Senate floor Friday.

Durbin, Kennedy, and other Democrats want to know if the interrogations included waterboarding, a technique where a water is poured on a bound suspect to produce the sensation of drowning, CNN reported.

President George W. Bush learned of the tapes' existence Thursday when CIA Director Michael Hayden briefed him about their subsequent destruction, a White House spokesman said Friday.

The tapes, which demonstrated newly approved "alternative" interrogations techniques were recorded in 2002 and destroyed three years later, CNN reported.