OFFLINE

A special prosecutor has dashed the fondest hopes of opponents of the war on terror by concluding that the CIA's program of so-called enhanced interrogations of Al Qaeda operatives after 9/11 was not shot through with criminality after all.

Investigator John Durham's finding confirms that Attorney General Eric Holder sent him on a wrongheaded mission in ordering a "preliminary review" of whether agents violated the law.

Justice Department prosecutors had already found no grounds for proceeding against anyone, but that was not good enough for Holder, who came into office bearing few good thoughts about Bush administration policies.

Indeed, at the same time that he assigned Durham, a previously confidential CIA inspector general's report indicated that agents had engaged in no instances of torture in any ordinary sense of that word.

The technique known as waterboarding was used on a grand total of three detainees, all high-ranking members of Al Qaeda's leadership, including 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. In each case, and others using less harsh measures, agents followed guidelines promulgated by the department.

Subjecting agents - who did their best under emergency circumstances and had the okay of government lawyers - to criminal jeopardy was absurd, unfair and damaging to the CIA's work.

All told, Durham examined 101 cases. The result: No sign of misconduct in 99. Results in the other two were inconclusive. They will be examined further even though both had previously been scrutinized by prosecutors.

One involved Gul Rahman, a suspected courier between Taliban chieftain Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Al Qaeda, who died at an agency-operated prison known as the Salt Pit in Kabul, Afghanistan, in November 2002.

The other case involved suspected Al Qaeda operative Manadel al-Jamadi, whose body was found at the notorious Abu Ghraib military prison in Iraq. Medical officials there declared the 2003 death a homicide, and it was widely reported in connection with the revelations of mistreatment of prisoners that led to criminal convictions of 11 soldiers.

The big takeaway is that interrogations that produced valuable intelligence, including information that led to the killing of Osama Bin Laden, were perfectly lawful. And the American Civil Liberties Union and others who continue to decry supposed widespread criminal brutality need to come to grips with reality.

OFFLINE

I'm hearing that this is a major blow to Eric Holder as he is left with egg on his face.  He spent a lot of money persecuting the CIA officers who had been ordered to do what they did, and it has pretty much blown up in his face now.  100 out of 102 cases were dropped for lack of evidence.

Obama and Holder need to be run out of town.