CIA boss faces tape interrogation

The CIA and the US justice department are investigating the tape destruction.

Meanwhile, an ex-CIA agent defended the use of "water-boarding", a technique that critics say amounts to torture.

Speaking to ABC News, John Kiriakou said the technique, which simulates drowning, helped "break" a key al-Qaeda suspect.

The suspect, Abu Zubaydah, was said to be one of the men questioned in the deleted footage.

A Palestinian, he was captured in Pakistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Mr Kiriakou said the day after water-boarding was used on Abu Zubaydah, the detainee told his interrogator that Allah had visited him in his cell during the night and told him to co-operate.

"From that day on, he answered every question," the retired agent said.

Cover-up?

The interrogation tapes were both made and destroyed before Gen Hayden was appointed director of the CIA in 2006.

WATER-BOARDING Prisoner bound to a board with feet raised, and cellophane wrapped round head