Whether you agree or not with the decision to name a prosecutor to look into torture methods, it’s heartening to see Atty. Gen. Eric Holder exercise some independence from the White House. Some folks in Washington had expressed concern that he may not be capable of showing independence.
By Carrie Johnson and Anne E. Kornblut
Washington Post Staff Writers
WASHINGTON — About five weeks ago, faced with a crucial decision on how to react to brutal CIA interrogation practices, Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. concluded that it would be all but impossible to follow President Obama’s mandate to move forward, rather than investigate divisive episodes from the Bush “war on terror.”
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Holder notified the White House that he was reluctantly leaning toward naming a prosecutor to review whether laws had been broken during interrogations — the very thing Obama had said he wanted to avoid. And the word Holder got back, according to people familiar with the conversations, was that the decision was up to him.
The back story to Monday’s appointment of a career prosecutor to review CIA interrogation methods illustrates Holder’s influence in the new administration and sheds light on the emerging and delicate relationship between the White House and the Justice Department.
