Torture probe is justified

Justice Department is obligated to uncover details of torture.

President Obama has declared that he has little interest in dredging up the past misdeeds of official and unofficial interrogators of terrorist suspects. Nonetheless, the federal government is obligated to determine what happened and who approved it, and the criminal probe launched Monday by the Justice Department is a valid way to do that.

Attorney General Eric Holder has appointed John Durham, a veteran prosecutor, to lead the investigation. Holder determined that such a criminal investigation was necessaryafter revelations in a newly declassified report of CIA tactics used after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

The report concluded that CIA officers or contractors used “unauthorized, improvised, inhumane” practices in questioning “high-value” terror suspects. Tactics allegedly included threatening hooded prisoners with guns and power drills, threatening to kill or sexually abuse family members, staging mock executions and, in the most severe cases, beating prisoners and inflicting injuries that might have proved fatal.

Obama has said interrogators would not face charges if they followed legal guidelines. But this report indicates that some interrogators went well beyond even what was sanctioned in memos from the Justice Department during the Bush administration. The report also suggests that some questioners knew they were crossing the line.

We have no illusion that this investigation will result in criminal charges against former Vice President Dick Cheney or other high-ranking members of the Bush administration. We hope, however, that the probe will attempt to determine whether these acts were directly authorized from above rather than simply going after the interrogators who make the easiest targets.

The primary function of this investigation should be to get to the truth, reveal what when on and who sanctioned it, and install restraints to ensure it doesn't happen again. To that end, it is encouraging that Obama has ordered that all U.S. interrogators will follow the rules for detainees laid out by the Army Field Manual. The manual, last updated in September 2006, prohibits forcing detainees to be naked, threatening them with military dogs, exposing them to extreme heat or cold, conducting mock executions, depriving them of food, water or medical care and waterboarding.

We hope this investigation also will lay to rest some of the myths perpetrated by those trying to justify extreme interrogation techniques. The rules in the Army Field Manual do not tie the hands of interrogators. Professional interrogators don't use the extreme measures outlined in the CIA report, and they question the reliability of information obtained using those methods.

Requiring humane interrogations does not undermine the battle against terrorism. Failure to follow humanitarian rules of interrogation does. Torture undermines American values and the nation's standing in the world.

Investigating those involved in interrogations that cross the line is not a diversion from the battle against terrorism. We can do both.

Finally, there is no solid evidence to support the contention that information obtained by extreme techniques helped avert another terrorist attack. Again, the most reliable information is gained through tested, traditional interrogation techniques that don't involve torture.

Obama's desire to move forward rather than becoming bogged down in a protracted investigation is understandable. But the details of torture that have come to light are impossible to ignore.

The nation needs to know what happened. To do less would be a disservice to history.