Ethics

Holder and War Crimes: That Didn't Last Long

By Ed Brayton

Any hope one might have had after seeing the Newsweek article saying that Eric Holder was leaning toward appointing a special prosecutor to investigate war crimes and torture by the Bush administration lasted only a couple days. The Washington Post punctures that hope with more leaks -- almost certainly deliberate -- about the nature of such an investigation even if the AG does order it.

But the sources said an inquiry would apply only to activities by interrogators, working in bad faith, that fell outside the "four corners" of the legal memos. Some incidents that might go beyond interrogation techniques that were permitted involve detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, and are described in the secret 2004 CIA inspector general report, set for release Aug. 31.

Full post as published by Dispatches from the Culture Wars on July 14, 2009 (boomark / email).