Shedding Light on the Dark Side

During the Bush Administration, the CIA referred for possible prosecution about 20 cases of prisoner interrogations so abusive they might have violated the law. All but two were declined by the Department of Justice due to insufficient evidence of criminal conduct or criminal intent and the low probability of conviction. The New York Times, Newsweek magazine and the Los Angeles Times have all reported that despite President Obama not wanting to look back, Attorney General Eric Holder is likely to appoint a special prosecutor to re-open the cases. The release of a formerly classified report will put a lot of disturbing questions back in the news. Would investigation of low-level interrogators lead to policy makers up the chain of command? How high might it go? Can the Obama Administration handle another highly-charged political controversy with Constitutional overtones? Can it afford not to?