Eric Holder, an accessory to Murder and torture?

US Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday appointed a special prosecutor to investigate the Bush administration's "enhanced interrogation" program. Ironically, though, it is Mr. Holder himself who should be investigated for the role he played in the Clinton administration's extraordinary rendition program.

Mr. Holder served as Deputy Attorney General during the Clinton years from 1997 until 2001.

Last month, I cited two instances of extraordinary renditions that occurred during the Clinton presidency. One of them took place while Mr. Holder was serving as Deputy Attorney General [undoubtedly, there were many more such instances]:

Talaat Fuad Qassim, a leader of al-Gamaa Islamiya, the Egyptian jihadist group led by al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, in the 1990s, was subjected to extraordinary rendition. In late 1995, he was kidnapped in Croatia, interrogated by US agents on a ship on the Adriatic Sea, then handed over to Egypt. Human rights experts believe he was tortured, then executed - no record of any trial exists.

In July 1998, several members of the Egyptian Jihad organization - which at the time, was merging with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network - were nabbed in Albania by Albanian security agents. They were then flown on a CIA-chartered plane to Cairo, where they were beaten and tortured. Two of the detainees were subsequently hanged in an Egyptian prison yard.

Some of the detainees reported that Egyptian interrogators had applied electrical shocks to their nipples, genitals and feet while suspending them in mid air by their limbs....

As I noted last month, former CIA agent Robert Baer once said: "If you want a serious interrogation, you send a prisoner to Jordan. If you want them to be tortured, you send them to Syria. If you want someone to disappear -- never to see them again -- you send them to Egypt."

I also pointed out the following:

In May of 2009, during his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee, then-Attorney General nominee Eric Holder took questions from both Senators Lamar Alexander and Richard Shelby about his role in the CIA's "rendition" program:

Didn't that [extraordinary renditions] happen during the Clinton administration? [they asked Mr. Holder].

Yes, Holder replied.

"How many did you approve?" they asked.

Holder said he'd check the record....

Heh....

According to MSNBC, the senators were suggesting that if any criminal investigation were to be opened by Mr. Holder, "Republicans would push to get it expanded beyond events during the Bush administration."

In other words, they would open an investigation into both the Clinton Administration's renditions program and the role that Mr. Holder played in the aforementioned program.

It is important to note that during the Bush administration, extraordinary renditions simply meant that terrorist suspects were sent to US prisons abroad, where they were interrogated by CIA officials who operated under strict legal guidelines. During the Clinton years, however, terrorist suspects were rounded up and shipped overseas, not to US prisons, but to foreign prisons where - as I previously noted - they were tortured and at times brutally murdered.

Nevertheless, Senator Shelby, Senator Alexander and their congressional colleagues are remaining conspicuously silent while Eric Holder and Barack Obama - the audacious and brazen hypocrites that they are - pursue their political witch hunt against the Bush administration.

Make no mistake about it, the target of this investigation is not the CIA; rather, Mr. Holder and Mr. Obama are pursuing a political agenda. Their ultimate goal is to score political points [a major slam-dunk, if you will] by impugning the Bush administration. And yes, contrary to the mainstream media's contention, this investigation is the brain child of not only Eric Holder, but the President as well.

Ultimately, Republican lawmakers can not allow these two hypocrites to pursue their politically motivated witch hunt without responding in kind.

It is incumbent upon both Mr. Shelby and Mr. Alexander to fulfill the promise they made to Mr. Holder during his confirmation hearing, namely that if any criminal investigation were to be opened by him, "Republicans would push to get it expanded beyond events during the Bush administration" and that they would probe Mr. Holder's role in the Clinton administration's renditions program and investigate the legal guidance he gave to President Clinton with regard to the program.

Conclusion: During the Clinton presidency, suspected terrorists were shipped off to foreign prisons - as part of the administration's 'extraordinary rendition' program - where they were subsequently tortured and at times, brutally murdered.

Was Mr. Holder an accessory to these heinous crimes? Answer: It could very well be, but without a complete and thorough investigation, there is no way of knowing for sure.

Please contact the following lawmakers and remind them of the promise they made to Mr. Holder. Demand that they open an investigation into this matter, forthwith!

Contact Senator Shelby
Telephone - (202) 224-5744

Contact Senator Alexander
Telephone - (202) 224-4944

Contact your Senator

Contact your Representative