Graham: Lawmakers, Too, Could Be Prosecuted

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Prosecuting former Bush administration officials for signing off on harsh interrogation techniques would be a “legal nightmare,” for the nation that could do lasting damage to national security, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News Thursday.

Moreover, members of Congress who were kept informed of the techniques at the time they were being used could, in theory, also be subject to prosecution, said Graham, R-S.C., who also is a JAG colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves.

“Any member of Congress who was read into this program are in the same boat as the (Bush) lawyers,’’ Graham said. “Then you’re part of it, so where does it all end.”

Graham said lawmakers have to put themselves in the mindset that Bush administration officials were in immediately following the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center in 2001.

“You’ve got to remember that right after 9/11 we all believed we were going to be attacked again,” said Graham, who sits on the judiciary and armed services committees. The attorneys and other officials were trying to develop interrogation techniques that would prevent further attacks and yield intelligence on members of al-Qaida still at large.

“They gave a legal opinion,” said Graham. “They weren’t conspiring to commit a crime.

“Some of the rational I disagree with, but it’s not a crime to disagree with Lindsey Graham. Those people were trying to defend the national the best they could. We need to look forward right now, not backward. They’re not criminals.”

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