Probe Is Focused On Interrogation Program's Approvalhttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/06/17/AR2009061701512.html?wprss=rss_politics/administrationA Justice Department report focusing on possible ethics violations by Bush administration lawyers who approved waterboarding of terrorism suspects is still "a matter of weeks" from release, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. told lawmakers yesterday.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Holder said that officials in the department's Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), which investigates allegations of attorney misconduct, are reworking the 200-page draft report and incorporating comments from lawyers who have been the focus of the investigation.
The conclusions of the five-year-long probe are hotly anticipated because they could shed new light on the interplay between the Bush White House, the Justice Department and the CIA in formulating an interrogation policy that critics assert included torture.
Key Senate Democrats and left-leaning interest groups yesterday exhorted Holder to pick up the pace. Sens. Richard J. Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) pointed out that the former government lawyers whose conduct is at issue had submitted their arguments six weeks ago.
"The American people have a right to know how the U.S. Justice Department came to issue legal opinions approving acts of cruelty that shocked the world, damaged U.S. moral authority and harmed efforts to combat terrorism effectively," Human Rights First and more than a half-dozen other activist groups wrote. "We urge you to release the OPR report now and send a clear message that transparency in government and adherence to the law are core American values as well as key assets to U.S. national security."
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