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 Politicians in both parties and in the presidential campaign said inquiries must get to the bottom of the matter and questioned who if anyone in the White House knew what was happening. But there appears to be little support for appointment of a special prosecutor.
The Justice Department and the CIA's internal watchdog are conducting a joint inquiry, one step short of a full investigation, and congressional committees were turning to the tempest as well.
Democrats and some Republicans expressed skepticism about CIA claims that tapes of the questioning of two terrorism suspects were destroyed only to protect the identity of the interrogators.
"The actions, I think, were absolutely wrong," Republican presidential candidate John McCain, a victim of torture while a war prisoner in Vietnam, said Sunday. "There will be skepticism and cynicism all over the world about how we treat prisoners and whether we practice torture or not."
GOP presidential rival Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, questioned whether the CIA destroyed the tape for security purposes as claimed "or to cover somebody's rear end."
Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, a Democratic presidential candidate and chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called for a special counsel. "I just think it's clearer and crisper and everyone will know what the truth is," he said.
That view was not shared by fellow Democratic Sen. Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, or a number of other prominent Democrats.
"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," Rockefeller said. "It is the job of the intelligence committees to do that."
Rockefeller, citing the confidentiality of certain intelligence briefings, said he could not comment on the existence of any other interrogation tapes. He said CIA Director Michael Hayden would appear before his committee Tuesday.
Biden cited Attorney General Michael Mukasey's refusal during confirmation hearings to describe waterboarding as torture as a reason to appoint an independent counsel.
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 "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. 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."
Hayden told CIA employees Thursday that the recordings were destroyed out of fear the tapes would leak and reveal the identities of interrogators.
The White House declined comment Sunday on Biden's suggestion or remarks by other lawmakers and candidates. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the Bush administration stands by Hayden and supports the Justice Department's effort to "gather facts."
Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Republican often critical of the 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."
Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California said based on facts so far known, "it was a big mistake. Whether it's a crime or not, I think we're going to have to find (out)."
"I don't buy the answer -- it was for the protection of the CIA," she said.
Biden spoke on "This Week" on ABC; Rockefeller and Hagel appeared on "Face the Nation" on CBS; McCain and Huckabee on "Fox News Sunday"; and Feinstein on CNN's "Late Edition."
[Associated
Press; By CALVIN WOODWARD]
Copyright 2007 The Associated
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