Holder begins review of detainee-abuse allegations

WASHINGTON -- Amid revelations that U.S. interrogators threatened terror suspects with handguns and an electric drill, Attorney General Eric Holder opened a preliminary review Monday to determine whether criminal prosecutions are warranted in some detainee abuse cases.

The threats against the detainees, who were hooded, shackled and, in some cases, naked, were among new details included in a series of documents released by the Justice Department. The records included a 2004 report by the CIA's Office of Inspector General, which noted that some of the interrogation tactics used by the agency were "inconsistent with the public policy positions that the United States has taken regarding human rights."

The report notes that a CIA officer also threatened a detainee with the prospect that his mother would be brought in for questioning, leading the captive to believe he was in a Middle Eastern country where interrogators are known for sexually abusing the female relatives if their prisoners.

None of the threats was an authorized interrogation technique, the report says.

The new information, released to satisfy a court order in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, came as the Obama administration continues to struggle with how to handle continued fallout from the controversial detention and interrogation techniques sanctioned by the Bush administration for terror suspects.

Holder's preliminary review, which could lay the groundwork for criminal prosecutions, was announced just hours after the White House confirmed the creation of a new, interagency task force set up specifically to take over all interrogations of "high value" detainees linked to Al Qaida and other terror groups.

The FBI-based task force will "bring together all the different elements of the intelligence community to get the best intelligence possible based on scientifically proven methods," Obama spokesman Bill Burton said. He noted that, per a previous order from Obama, all interrogations will be limited to techniques authorized by the Army Field Manual, which does not allow some of the more controversial "enhanced" tactics, such as "waterboarding," that were condoned during the Bush years.