Dems unify behind interrogation probe

Senate Democratic leaders on Thursday united behind the idea of delaying any prosecutions on the Bush administration’s alleged torture methods of terror detainees until after the Intelligence Committee finishes its own probe.

Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Senate Democratic Conference Vice Chairman Charles Schumer (N.Y.) and Conference Secretary Patty Murray (Wash.) said they were backing committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who has fended off calls for an independent counsel or commission by insisting her committee handle the task.

{mosads}“It is in our best interests to do this sensibly, prudently, to wait until Sen. Feinstein completes this investigation,” said Durbin.

Reid said he was not opposed to ideas by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for a so-called “Truth Commission” to investigate how the CIA handled interrogations under the Bush administration, or an independent commission called for by Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.).

“Until we get that information, we’d all be better off just relaxing, understanding how difficult this is,” said Reid. “We must get the information. It’s spotty now, and I think that a few months waiting to determine the right way to go about this is certainly not going to hurt us. We’ve got to get the facts before we decide which way to go.”

The majority leader did confirm that he was briefed on the Bush administration’s policies at the time that they were being used, and that he raised objections to the harsh interrogation methods. But he said the issue was too delicate to take outside the Senate’s regular committee structure.

“We’re talking about more than waterboarding,” Reid said. “I think it would be very unwise from my perspective to start having commissions, boards, tribunals, until we find out what the facts are. And I don’t know a better way of getting the facts than through the Intelligence Committee.”

Reid told The Hill on Wednesday that he agreed with Feinstein, former Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-W.Va.) and committee member Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) that the Obama administration should delay any decisions about not prosecuting CIA employees or administration officials until after the committee’s investigation. The investigation is likely to last another six to eight months.