Ex-CIA Heads Ask Obama to Drop Interrogation Investigation

Attorney General Eric Holder may be convinced that he should go forward with his probe into the interrogation techniques used on terror suspects by CIA agents during the Bush II era, but seven former directors of the intelligence agency disagree — and they’re asking Holder’s boss, President Barack Obama, to intervene. –KA

AP via Google News:

Seven former CIA directors asked President Barack Obama on Friday to quash a criminal probe of harsh interrogations of terror suspects during the Bush administration.

The CIA directors, who served both Democratic and Republican presidents and include three who worked under President George W. Bush, made their request in a letter Friday to the White House.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced last month that he was appointing an independent counsel to investigate possible incidents of abuse by CIA personnel during interrogations that went beyond guidelines imposed by the Bush administration.

The incidents were referred by the CIA inspector general to the Justice Department during the Bush administration, but Justice officials at the time prosecuted only one case.

“If criminal investigations closed by career prosecutors during one administration can so easily be reopened at the direction of political appointees in the next, declinations of prosecution will be rendered meaningless,” wrote the former directors.

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