Diane Feinstein wants to hold hearings.

“WASHINGTON — The head of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Sunday she hopes public outrage over Bush-era interrogation methods subsides so Congress can calmly investigate the issue.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein said she wants congressional hearings to move forward on the interrogation techniques. The memos detailed waterboarding, a simulated drowning tactic, and other techniques used on a captured suspected Al Qaeda leaders Abu Zubaydah and Khalid Sheik Mohammad.

The California Democrat said her committee already was investigating the methods detailed, but Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he wants independent investigators to determine whether any Bush administration officials should be prosecuted.

“I have recommended that the Department of Justice select one or two or three people outside of the department who will have credibility, perhaps retired federal judges, who will make a recommendation to the Department of Justice as to whether or not anybody ought to be prosecuted on this matter or any other action ought to be taken against lawyers, for instance,” Levin said on “FOX News Sunday.”

He added that he objects to the idea that the interrogators who carried out the tactics should be the only ones prosecuted.”

Well, I say, “Go ahead”! Just be aware, the American people don’t “have your back”.

First, there isn’t a huge “public outrage”, and in fact there is a sizable number of Americans on all sides who support the techniques in the memos. Via the Washington Post:

“Overall, the public is about evenly divided on the questions of whether torture is justifiable in terrorism cases and whether there should be official inquiries into any past illegality involving the treatment of terrorism suspects. About half of all Americans, and 52 percent of independents, said there are circumstances in which the United States should consider employing torture against such suspects. “

Opps! But wait there’s more. Rassumssen Reports says that 58% of Americans believe that Obama’s release of the memos endangers national security, and the same number oppose further inquiry into interrogation techniques.

Democrats are on shaky ground here. If they pursue the investigations they will get a severe backlash from the American people, as well as from the intelligence community. Given that this, wanna bet THE ONE steps in to squash the whole thing?

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