Ex-CIA Chiefs Seek Halt to Interrogations Probe (Pamela Hess)

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US Attorney General Eric Holder, seen here on August 20, 2009. Seven former CIA directors urged Obama to reverse Holder's Aug. 24 decision to reopen the investigation of interrogations following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Win Mcnamee)

Sept. 18 -- WASHINGTON (AP) -- Seven former CIA directors asked President Barack Obama Friday to quash a criminal probe of harsh interrogations of terror suspects during the Bush administration.

Attorney General Eric Holder announced last month that he was appointing an independent counsel to investigate possible incidents of abuse by CIA personnel during interrogations that went beyond guidelines imposed by the Bush administration.

The incidents were referred by the CIA inspector general to the Justice Department during the Bush administration, but Justice officials at the time prosecuted only one case.

"If criminal investigations closed by career prosecutors during one administration can so easily be reopened at the direction of political appointees in the next, declinations of prosecution will be rendered meaningless," wrote the former directors.