The decision by Attorney General Eric Holder to start an investigation into the interrogation tactics of the CIA seems to have at least temporarily cooled the passion of Democrats in Congress for their own probes.
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., once demanded Congress convene a “truth and reconciliation commission” to examine whether Bush administration officials broke the law in their approach to getting information from terrorism suspects. In the House, Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers, D-Mich., introduced legislation to create a similar panel and talked of criminal prosecutions for panel targets.
But the two chairman softened their demands after Holder announced that he would conduct a “preliminary review” into whether CIA agents used illegal interrogations tactics.
“While I still believe that a nonpartisan, independent review is the best way to get the full picture of how our laws were applied or broken, I hope this investigation will also bring a measure of accountability to the American people in holding responsible those whose decisions may have undermined our values and our laws,” Leahy said in a statement.
A Leahy aide said there were no hearings or plans to convene a truth commission, in part because Republicans oppose it.
“He has said that bipartisan support is necessary to truly get to the bottom of what happened,” said his spokeswoman, Erica Chabot.
Holder says he will only investigate cases in which CIA agents may have used illegal interrogation tactics, which may not include the controversial use of waterboarding.
Conyers praised Holder and called again for a CIA probe by “an independent and bipartisan commission,” but he announced no plans to create one.
Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a judiciary subcommittee chairman, said “we must go further” than what Holder has prescribed and prosecute those who broke the law. But he gave no specifics.
An aide said Nadler’s subcommittee will continue to “provide oversight on the issue of torture — precise plans not yet available.”
Conyers, Leahy and Nadler have softened their demands as Congress appears to have lost its appetite for scrutinizing the CIA. Enthusiasm began waning after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., became embroiled in a politically damaging dispute with the CIA over secret briefings.
“The statements about a truth commission were to placate the extreme element in their base who will not be happy until they see members of the Bush administration paraded in orange jumpsuits,” said Robert Alt, senior legal fellow at the conservative Heritage Foundation. “They realize that looking forward, those sorts of maneuvers are not politically advantageous.”
Congress will have to address the issue again in March, however, when a Senate Intelligence Committee is expected to conclude a yearlong, bipartisan investigation into the CIA’s detention and interrogation program.
“The intelligence committee investigation could resolve the questions in people’s minds about this, or create more questions and spur calls for then for the truth commission,” said Ben Wittes, a legal scholar with the liberal Brookings Institution. “This is an issue that has not died easily.”
