Kennedy Suggests Special Prosecutor for CIA Tape Case (Update2)

By James Rowley

Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) -- Senator Edward M. Kennedy raised the possibility it may take a special prosecutor to get to the bottom of who was behind the CIA's destruction of videotaped interrogations of suspected terrorists.

In an interview on ``Political Capital with Al Hunt'' that will air this weekend, Kennedy said there could be a whitewash if a probe into the tapes, now in its preliminary stage, is left to the Justice Department's national security division and the Central Intelligence Agency's inspector general.

``I am concerned whether we are going to get to the real facts,'' the Massachusetts Democrat said. Because the inquiry is ``being very closely held, the question is whether the American people will have a sense that this investigation is on the level. Unless you bring the FBI in, and unless you bring in the possibility of a special prosecutor as they had in Watergate, I am not sure we'll get to that point.''

Kennedy also said the inquiry is the ``first real challenge'' for new Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey, who promised at Senate confirmation hearings in October to keep politics out of law enforcement. Mukasey told a press conference this week that appointing a special prosecutor ``is the most hypothetical or hypotheticals that isn't going to be faced until it has to be.''

It is ``really unclear'' whether top officials in the CIA or the Bush administration ordered the destruction of the tapes, Kennedy said.

Important Decisions

``It's difficult to think that individuals in a routine leadership capacity are going to make judgments and decisions of this importance,'' he said.

The tapes recorded harsh interrogation methods the spy agency used after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Kennedy, who has served in the Senate since his 1962 election to the seat held by his brother, President John F. Kennedy, refused to be drawn into a debate over which Democratic presidential candidate would be the best nominee in 2008. But he pointed out some contrasts between the leading candidates on healthcare and the war in Iraq.

Kennedy declined to endorse any of the Democrats' healthcare plans. Still, he suggested that proposals by New York Senator Hillary Clinton and John Edwards, a former senator, are superior to one offered by Illinois Senator Barack Obama because they would require all Americans to buy health insurance.

Voluntary Plans

``Those that have a greater requirement in terms of individuals and individuals' participation make a good deal of sense,'' Kennedy said. Plans that ``think they can do it in a voluntary way fall -- I don't think are as strong as the others.''

On the war, Kennedy praised those who opposed it in 2002 when Clinton and Edwards, who was a North Carolina senator at the time, supported a Senate resolution authorizing Bush to use force against Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

Obama, who was then an Illinois state senator, has highlighted his opposition to the war in questioning Clinton's judgment on national security issues.

``Those that saw that and understood'' that the Iraq war was ill-conceived ``at the time'' of the congressional authorization ``that's not insignificant,'' said Kennedy, who voted against the resolution.

Kennedy said he had ``no plans at this time'' to endorse any candidate. ``All of them would bring the kind of dramatic shift and change that is going to be necessary'' for ``a very dramatic reduction of American forces'' in Iraq, he said.

Harsh Attacks

Kennedy said he isn't concerned about harsh attacks on each other by Clinton and Obama, calling their rhetoric ``still pretty mild'' compared with what he heard in 1960 ``listening to Lyndon Johnson going after my brother and Hubert Humphrey and the rest of them.''

Asked about Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's position on immigration, Kennedy was critical of the former Massachusetts governor's tough talk on the issue in the campaign.

``I like his position better when he was governor than I like the position that he has had now,'' Kennedy said. ``We can leave that there.''

To contact the reporters on this story: James Rowley in Washington at jarowley@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: December 14, 2007 17:05 EST

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