WASHINGTON — Sen. Richard Burr said Thursday that he will delay the confirmation of Charlotte lawyer Thomas G. Walker as U.S. attorney for Eastern North Carolina until investigations into two of the state's most prominent Democrats are completed.

Burr, a Winston-Salem Republican, wants U.S. Attorney George Holding to finish his inquiries into former Gov. Mike Easley and former Sen. John Edwards, a two-time presidential candidate. Holding was appointed by President George W. Bush.

Burr notified President Barack Obama of his decision through the White House counsel's office. Obama nominated Walker last week. » read more

WASHINGTON — By all accounts, the interrogation of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush went terribly wrong. Military guards accused his interrogators of beating the detainee and stuffing his body into a sleeping bag bound with electrical cord until he suffocated.

When it came time for a CIA employee to testify during the court-martial of Army Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, however, officials went to great lengths to protect the employee's identity, erecting a high, Army-green tarpaulin to shield him from spectators. Even the unidentified man's employment by the CIA was off-limits, until Welshofer's civilian attorney mentioned it in a slip of the tongue.

"The CIA was a kind of specter hanging on the edge of the case the entire time," said David Danzig, of the advocacy group Human Rights First, who attended the trial. The CIA's role in questioning Mowhoush "was not being investigated, not being discussed," he said. » read more