Apr 23, 2009 11:30 am US/Pacific
Holder: No 'Hide And Seek' With Secret Memos
Previously Classified Memos On Harsh Interrogation Tactics Stir Debate
WASHINGTON (CBS) ―
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Attorney General Eric Holder is seen in this April 17, 2009.
Alex Wong/Getty Images
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Attorney General Eric Holder says he won't play "hide and seek" with secret memos about harsh interrogations of terror suspects and their effectiveness.
Holder is testifying before the House Appropriations Committee and says he's willing to release as much information as possible about the interrogations.
He was asked about the fierce debate that has erupted since the Justice Department released four memos last week detailing the harsh techniques used on some detainees during the Bush administration.
Republicans have urged President Obama to release other classified reports detailing what intelligence information was gained from such questioning. Holder said he didn't know what specific memos Republicans may be referring to.
A Senate panel is investigating the legal underpinnings for the interrogation program as well as the value of the information it gathered. Republicans oppose the creation of a bipartisan commission for what they view as a backward-looking effort to vilify former President George W. Bush.
"One way or another there needs to be a public accounting of these troublesome policies," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. Reid said the committee inquiry "will answer a lot of the questions the American people have."
Two Senate reports issued back to back this week were meant to answer some of those questions.
A Senate Armed Services Committee report draws a direct line between the Bush administration's approval of the CIA's harsh interrogation program and the military's abuse of prisoners at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Meanwhile, Sen. John McCain warned that a pursuit for charges against Bush administration officials who helped design harsh interrogation tactics used on terrorist suspects would turn into a "witch hunt."
Speaking on CBS' The Early Show, the former Vietnam POW and Republican opponent of President Barack Obama in the 2008 election, said there is no evidence that he knows of that shows the officials who approved the tactics weren't giving plausible legal advice.
This will have a "chilling effect on legal counsel," McCain said.
McCain, who was himself tortured as a U.S. soldier by his North Vietnamese captors, was a vocal critic of the Bush administration's treatment of terrorism suspects.
"To go back on a witch hunt that could last for a year or so is bad for the country," he said.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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