Report: Waterboarding memo investigated

WASHINGTON, Feb. 22 (UPI) -- The debate over waterboarding in the United States has spawned a federal investigation into legal opinions issued by the Bush administration.

The Washington Post said Friday the Justice Department was investigating whether White House lawyers violated professional standards by creating opinions that held waterboarding and other rough tactics could be used by the CIA when interrogating terrorist suspects.

The Office of Professional Responsibility is carrying out the investigation. The Post said the office cannot indict anyone but can refer its findings to federal prosecutors, if warranted.

The Justice Department has been in the midst of the waterboarding controversy since 2002 when it issued an opinion that narrowly defined torture and has been used as the basis for harsh interrogations by administration officials.

But Sens. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., earlier called on the Justice Department to look into whether its officials used "coercive tactics" in drafting the 2002 memo.