Attorney General Eric Holder has named John Durham, a former U.S. attorney who has looked into the CIA in the past, as a special prosecutor in charge of pursuing about a dozen cases of alleged abuse during CIA interrogations. According to Politico, this appointment could lead to the eventual prosecution of CIA officers involved who used enhanced interrogation techniques that verged on torture. While President Obama has said that he is not interested in prosecuting the individuals who carried out procedures sanctioned by the Bush administration, he left the final decision of appointing a prosecutor to Holder. The attorney general was apparently "so troubled by some of the reports" he had seen of various abuses that he felt the appointment was necessary. "Neither the opening of a preliminary review nor, if evidence warrants it, the commencement of a full investigation means that charges will necessarily follow," Holder said. "I share the president's conviction that as a nation, we must, to the extent possible, look forward and not backward when it comes to issues such as these."

Justice to probe alleged CIA abuse [Politico]