The 9/11 panel and the CIA tapes

WASHINGTON, Dec. 22 (UPI) -- The CIA assured the Sept. 11 Commission that all requested information on al-Qaida interrogations had been turned over, it was reported Saturday.

Philip Zelikow, the commission's former executive director, in a seven-page memorandum said the panel made repeated requests for information in 2003 and 2004. He said that additional investigation is needed to determine if the CIA broke the law by withholding two videotapes showing the interrogations of two al-Qaida operatives.

Former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton, one of the panel's co-chairmen, said this week that the CIA "clearly obstructed" the investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, The New York Times reported. Thomas Kean, a Republican and former New Jersey governor, was unhappy that the commission was not told of the videotapes.

"I don't know whether that's illegal or not, but it's certainly wrong," Kean said.

An agency spokesman told the Times the commission never asked for videotapes.