US to Investigate Deaths of Two Detainees

The is-it-torture debate is probably going to rev up again: The Justice Department says it will launch criminal inquiries into the deaths of two detainees in US custody in 2002 and 2003, reports the Washington Post. Eric Holder gave the green light on the recommendation of federal prosecutor John Durham, who has been looking into CIA interrogations for two years now. Durham, however, said no charges were warranted in 99 other cases.

The two detainees were not identified, but the Post and Wall Street Journal identify them as:

• Manadel al-Jamadi: The bomb-making suspect died at Abu Ghraib in 2003 while in CIA custody. A Navy SEAL was charged and acquitted in his death.
• Gul Rahman: He died in 2002 at a CIA prison in Afghanistan known as the Salt Pit. He "was beaten and chained to a concrete floor without blankets," reports the Post.

(More Eric Holder stories.)