Obama Administration may regret CIA Prosecution

It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department." –Attorney General Eric Holder, April 2009

"Justice Department Names Prosecutor to Reopen CIA Abuse Cases" –Wall Street Journal, yesterday

Mr. Holder had it right the first time. His about-face yesterday, compounded by his release of a 2004 internal CIA report on that agency's handling of terrorists, opens a political war that President Obama, the CIA and above all the country will live to regret.

This is a trap the Administration set for itself. Mr. Obama and his team have attempted to appease their political left by publicly denouncing the Bush Administration's national security policies, even as they claimed to want to forget the past. Their disparagement has only fed the liberal demand for Bush prosecutions and increased the pressure on Mr. Holder to appoint a prosecutor.

By naming a special prosecutor to investigate whether CIA officers or contractors violated the Bush administration's interrogation policies, Attorney General Eric Holder has struck a middle course that isn't likely to satisfy anyone and could complicate President Barack Obama's broader political agenda.

Holder named John Durham, a longtime federal prosecutor in Connecticut, after the CIA Monday released a heavily censored 2004 inspector general's report on abuses by interrogators who exceeded the "enhanced interrogation techniques" the Bush administration Justice Department had approved.

Obama, vacationing on Martha's Vineyard when the decision was announced Monday, sought to keep his distance and mollify all sides. He said through a spokesman that he's focused on the future but committed to letting his attorney general do what he considers necessary.

In an already rancorous political atmosphere, however, anger among Republicans who oppose any prosecutions and liberals who think the administration should pursue the Bush administration officials who authorized the interrogation techniques could make it even harder for Obama to count on broad coalitions to enact his agenda, from health care to climate change and immigration.