Holder: No trial for harsh CIA questioning

WASHINGTON, April 16 (UPI) -- CIA agents who used harsh interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists won't be prosecuted, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said Thursday.

"It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department," Holder said in a release.

The Justice Department released four previously undisclosed Office of Legal Counsel opinions issued to the CIA in 2002 and 2005. Holder said after a review, the Office of Legal Counsel decided to withdraw the opinions, meaning they no longer represent the views of the office.

Documents released by the government Thursday described authorized interrogation techniques that include "water dousing" combined with "other techniques, such as stress positions, wall standing, the insult slap, or the abdominal slap," The New York Times reported, citing writings of Stephen Bradbury, who served as acting head of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel.

Thursday's document release included a 2002 memo prepared by Justice Department attorneys John Yoo and Jay Bybee that provides legal authorization for proposed CIA interrogation techniques, the Times said.

U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., issued a statement saying the legal opinions authorizing the harsh interrogation techniques "inaccurately interpreted" the Geneva Conventions prohibiting torture.

"I find it difficult to understand how the opinions found these interrogation techniques to be legal," she said. "For example, waterboarding and slamming detainees head-first into walls, as described in the OLC opinions, clearly fall outside what is legally permissible."

"The president has halted the use of the interrogation techniques described in these opinions, and this administration has made clear from day one that it will not condone torture," Holder said. "We are disclosing these memos consistent with our commitment to the rule of law."

Holder said he told the CIA the government would represent any employee in a state or federal judicial or administrative action brought against the employee based on such conduct, as well as provide representation in an international setting.