WASHINGTON (AFP) - A top US Senator said Thursday that he opposed, for now, creating an independent commission to probe harsh Bush-era interrogation techniques widely branded as torture. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who in the past has denounced the use of the near-drowning tactic called waterboarding as torture, told reporters he preferred to leave the job to the Senate Intelligence Committee. I think it would be very unwise, from my perspective, to start having commissions, boards, tribunals, until we find out what the facts are. And I dont know a better way of getting the facts than through the Intelligence Committee. I think thats a pretty good way to do it, said Reid. Were talking about more than waterboarding. This is more than waterboarding, he said during a briefing with Obamas top Senate allies. Reid had been asked how he could resist mounting calls for the creation of an independent panel to investigate the interrogations of suspected terrorists after decrying some of the methods known to have been used as torture.