Republicans resist Justice interrogation probe

Jul 12th, 2009 | WASHINGTON -- Two leading Republican senators say a criminal investigation into the Bush administration's harsh intelligence practices would make the CIA a boogeyman.

Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire says Democrats' efforts to review President George W. Bush's practices would harm the United States in the long run. He says the country is fighting a "war of intelligence" that would be damaged if the tactics were disclosed.

Sen. Lamar Alexander of Tennessee says that if Attorney General Eric Holder decides to appoint a prosecutor to probe Bush-era decisions, he should go farther back. Alexander says the investigation should go back into the 1990s, when Holder was a senior Justice Department official under President Bill Clinton.

The pair appeared on CNN's "State of the Union."

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