Lawmaker gets to the bottom of panties torture

updated 3:42 a.m. ET June 5, 2008

WASHINGTON - At least one member of Congress has his knickers in a twist over the subject of ... panties.

In a debate about the way detainees are treated at Guantanamo Bay, California Republican Dana Rohrabacher argued that it's not torture to make suspected terrorists wear women's underwear on their heads.

Rohrabacher was taking issue with FBI complaints about inappropriate and potentially illegal tactics used to get al-Qaida detainees to talk. He said interrogation-by-panties was more akin to "hazing," not torture.

He mentioned the word "panties" eight times during a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing.

Massachusetts Democrat Bill Delahunt pointedly told Rohrabacher that the issue went beyond panties, saying interrogators were also seen physically abusing detainees.

Rohrabacher declared he would never apologize for someone putting panties on the head of a 9-11 terrorist.

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