Holder: Won’t criminalize terror policy disputes

WASHINGTON — Attorney General Eric Holder left open the possibility Thursday to prosecuting former Bush administration officials but ruled out filing charges merely over disagreements about policy.

“I will not permit the criminalization of policy differences,” Holder testified before a House Appropriations subcommittee.

“However, it is my responsibility as attorney general to enforce the law. It is my duty to enforce the law. If I see evidence of wrongdoing I will pursue it to the full extent of the law,” he said.

Holder has made similar statements in the past, but he and other senior Obama administration officials are being scrutinized on the matter since the government released four legal memos detailing harsh treatment of terror suspects authorized during the Bush administration.

Obama said last week that CIA operatives who followed the memos’ instructions would not face prosecution. The president did not rule out charges against those who authorized and approved the methods — nor did Holder in his testimony.

Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., who chairs the Appropriations Committee, criticized what he called the lies of the Bush administration, yet he urged Holder to be careful in whatever course he took.

“It seems to me the important question isn’t whether or not there is widespread prosecution of people,” Obey said. “The important question is whether or not we’re going to strike the right balance between pursuing personal wrongdoing and making sure the country has the correct narrative about what did happen.”

Congressional Democrats have expressed a strong desire to conduct their own investigation of those officials.

Officials are still awaiting the results of an internal Justice Department investigation into the actions of the memo-writers.

Besides the question of prosecutions, the release of the four memos has also sparked debate over how many more classified details of the interrogation program should be released.

“It is certainly the intention of this administration not to play hide and seek, or not to release certain things,” said Holder. “It is not our intention to try to advance a political agenda or to try to hide things from the American people.”

Republicans — including former Vice President Dick Cheney — have urged the Obama administration to release other, still-secret documents detailing what intelligence was gained from the controversial interrogation techniques.

“I think you have an obligation to release the rest of the memos,” said Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va.

Holder said he wasn’t sure exactly which memos Cheney is referring to, because he hasn’t seen them. The attorney general suggested such classified documents may exist at other agencies.

“I’m the attorney general and I don’t control many of the memos you might be talking about,” said Holder.

Lawmakers also questioned Holder repeatedly about how the administration plans to empty Guantanamo Bay of its terror suspect detainees.

The attorney general said no decisions had been made about where and how to try specific detainees, but he insisted the U.S. courts, either civilian or military, could handle a trial of someone like Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks who was waterboarded repeatedly by the CIA.

No one should think the Obama administration would be “soft” on Mohammed and others like him, Holder said.