Another top Democrat has come out in support of the view that the torture investigation announced by the Justice Department shouldn’t be limited to CIA personnel.
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a former federal prosecutor who sits on the Judiciary committee, suggested in an article (sub. req.) for the National Law Journal that the probe should extend to:
…the former vice president of the United States, his counsel David Addington, Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) lawyer John Yoo and their private contractors Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, psychologists who designed the torture program.
Whitehouse continued:
[I]n America, high office does not put one outside the law. Indeed, it borders on unethical for a prosecutor to refuse to investigate the corpus delicti of a crime because of concern as to where the evidence may lead.
Several other top Democrats, including Sen. Russ Feingold, House Judiciary chair John Conyers, and Rep. Jerry Nadler have taken the same position, as has the ACLU.
The Justice Department hasn’t said clearly whether the special prosecutor, John Durham, has the authority to go beyond CIA personnel. In his statement announcing the probe, Eric Holder said it would consider “whether federal laws were violated in connection with the interrogation of specific detainees at overseas locations.” When we asked whether it might include Bush administration officials, a DOJ spokeswoman evaded the question.