AG Holder appoints special prosecutor for CIA abuses

The simmering controversy over the Bush administration's interrogations of terrorism suspects is about to boil over again with two major developments today.

First, the CIA released a once-secret report that sounds like plot points from "24."

The report, written in 2004 and declassified in a lawsuit by the American Civil Liberties Union, says interrogators threatened Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed that if any more attacks hit the United States, "We're going to kill your children." Another interrogator allegedly tried to convince another detainee that his mother would be sexually assaulted in front of him, according to the Associated Press account of the report.

The White House confirmed earlier today that a new specialized unit, housed at FBI headquarters, will oversee future interrogations of "high value" terror suspects.

The second related development: Attorney General Eric Holder is appointing a special prosecutor to look into alleged CIA mistreatment of the terror suspects.

The AP says that Holder has picked veteran federal prosecutor John Durham of Connecticut, who is already investigating the destruction of videotapes of CIA interrogations.

In a statement, Holder said the opening of the investigation does not necessarily mean that criminal charges will follow.

"I share the President's conviction that as a nation, we must, to the extent possible, look forward and not backward when it comes to issues such as these," Holder said. "While this Department will follow its obligation to take this preliminary step to examine possible violations of law, we will not allow our important work of keeping the American people safe to be sidetracked.

"I fully realize that my decision to commence this preliminary review will be controversial. As Attorney General, my duty is to examine the facts and to follow the law. In this case, given all of the information currently available, it is clear to me that this review is the only responsible course of action for me to take." (His full statement is below.)

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs issued a statement, reiterating that a special prosecutor is Holder's call, not the president's. Obama has previously said that interrogators who believed they were following guidance from above should not be prosecuted.

"The president has said repeatedly that he wants to look forward, not back, and the president agrees with the Attorney General that those who acted in good faith and within the scope of legal guidance should not be prosecuted," Gibbs said. "Ultimately, determinations about whether someone broke the law are made independently by the Attorney General."

However, the CIA inspector general's report released today said some interrogators had used "unauthorized, improvised, inhumane and undocumented detention and interrogation techniques" that went beyond what was authorized under Bush Justice Department legal memos.

Advocacy groups welcomed Holder's decision, but said the policymakers, not the low-level interrogators, should be the ones scrutinized.

“The decision to pursue this review is a crucial step towards ending an era of impunity for crimes of torture and other ill-treatment and reversing the national security failures that resulted from that treatment,” Devon Chaffee of Human Rights First said in a statement. “This is what it looks like for an independent Attorney General to do his job. Now, the Attorney General should ensure that the appointed prosecutor has discretion to follow the facts wherever they lead, including investigating the architects of the system of prison abuse, not only those who implemented it."

“Responsibility for the torture program cannot be laid at the feet of a few low-level operatives. Some agents in the field may have gone further than the limits so ghoulishly laid out by the lawyers who twisted the law to create legal cover for the program, but it is the lawyers and the officials who oversaw and approved the program who must be investigated," the Center for Constitutional Rights said in a statement.

“The Attorney General must appoint an independent special prosecutor with a full mandate to investigate those responsible for torture and war crimes, especially the high ranking officials who designed, justified and orchestrated the torture program. We call on the Obama administration not to tie a prosecutor’s hands but to let the investigation go as far up the chain of command as the facts lead. We must send a clear message to the rest of the world, to future officials, and to the victims of torture that justice will be served and that the rule of law has been restored.”

But Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, expressed his strong disappointment in Holder's decision.

“I respectfully regret this decision by Attorney General Holder and fear our country will come to regret it too because an open ended criminal investigation of past CIA activity, which has already been condemned and prohibited, will have a chilling effect on the men and women agents of our intelligence community whose uninhibited bravery and skill we depend on every day to protect our homeland from the next terrorist attack," Lieberman said in a statement. "Career prosecutors in the Department of Justice have previously reviewed allegations of abuse and concluded that prosecution was not warranted, with the exception of one CIA contractor who has already been convicted.  President Obama has established clear guidelines to ensure that past abuses are not repeated and has stated his desire to look forward rather than backward.
 
“We cannot take for granted the fact that our homeland has not been attacked since September 11, 2001.  That has occurred only because of the constant vigilance and unflinching efforts by those brave individuals in our military, civilian homeland security and counterterrorism agencies, and the intelligence community.  These public servants must of course live within the law but they must also be free to do their dangerous and critical jobs without worrying that years from now a future Attorney General will authorize a criminal investigation of them for behavior that a previous Attorney General concluded was authorized and legal.”

Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, also criticized Holder's move.

"We must remain mindful that we still are very much a nation at war with terrorists who spend every hour of their day planning how to hurt America and Americans. That’s why reports that the Department of Justice has directed a special prosecutor to investigate the men and women tasked with keeping America safe is such a poor and misguided decision," McConnell said in a statement.

"Several years ago, career professionals at the Department decided the facts did not support prosecuting America’s intelligence professionals based on the practices at issue today. Now, the administration risks chilling our defense and intelligence community’s ability to protect us from future terrorist attacks by reopening this matter. If these reports are true, the American people will be rightly outraged by the administration’s actions in this critical area.”

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele also criticized Holder's choice.

“He is setting a marker now that I think is very dangerous for any president to allow his administration to get into; and that is, second guessing decisions you’re making with respect to war and peace," Steele said this afternoon on Fox News Channel, adding that “clearly the attorney general did not get the memo from the president…on wanting to look forward and not backwards.”

Steele also suggested that the timing was suspicious. "Now this becomes a part of the national focus and debate while we try to deal with their failure to address sufficiently, and I think smartly, the health care issue that the nation is currently confronted with," he said, adding that “every time they find themselves up against the wall…they find a boogey man.”

“They want to make George Bush and his administration a continual boogey man and at this point I say. 'Get over it, move on.' ”

Obama has repeatedly said he wants to look forward, not back, as he has made sweeping changes in the US war on terror, banning torture techniques such as waterboarding, and closing the Guantanamo Bay detention center.

But liberals and Bush critics have been pressing for a full accounting and possible punishment.

Also, the New York Times is reporting this afternoon that Obama plans to keep a version of another contentious Bush strategy -- rendition to other countries.

It quotes administration officials as saying that the administration will continue sending terror suspects to third countries for detention and interrogation, but will monitor their treatment to insure they are not tortured.