Will Obama Prosecute CIA Officials or Won’t He?
It looks like the Obama administration is getting ready to break their promise not to prosecute CIA officials: Holder: ‘follow law’ in US interrogation probe.
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) - Attorney General Eric Holder on Wednesday said the Justice Department will follow the law wherever it leads in probing U.S. officials behind CIA interrogation policies.
His comments came a day after President Barack Obama opened the door to possible prosecutions of U.S. officials from the previous administration of George W. Bush who prepared the legal groundwork for the use of harsh interrogation methods on terrorism suspects, including waterboarding.
“We’re going to follow the evidence wherever it takes us, follow the law wherever that takes us,” Holder said to reporters at an Earth Day event. “No one is above the law,” he said, reiterating that the department had no intention to prosecute CIA interrogators who acted “in good faith” to follow official legal guidance.
This follows a huge outcry from the United Nations and NGOs over the promise not to prosecute. Is Obama just trying to mollify the screamers, or will he really take such an enormously unpopular (in the US) step?
Frank says: