Current Torture Investigations

Zachary Roth of Talking Points Memo notes that there are several ongoing investigations of various aspects of Bush administration interrogation programs.

But whatever Holder ultimately decides, there are already several ongoing government efforts to investigate torture, which figure to substantially fill out our still patchwork understanding of the issue. So as we wait for official word from the Justice Department on a criminal inquiry, it's worth being clear about what those efforts are, and how they relate to each other.

These efforts include the still to be released report from the CIA's inspector general that has apparently swayed Holder toward further investigation and reportedly challenges Cheney's contention that torture "works." The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is completing a report on the authors of the memos authorizing torture that were released this past spring. The CIA is still investigating the destruction of videotapes of interrogations of detainees that reportedly contained torture. The Senate Intelligence Committee is investigating whether CIA operatives exceeded the "enhanced techniques" deemed legal by the torture memos.

Given that the results of two of these probes will -- barring further delays, which are always possible -- be released by the end of August, it's easy to see Holder making a political decision to hold off on making a final decision about a criminal investigation until those missing pieces of the puzzle are filled in...But he'll have to make the call eventually -- and the fact remains that only a criminal investigation can accomplish the twin goals of forcing us to fully confront what was done in our name, and of holding accountable those who did it.

--Ballard Burgher