News of the appointing of a federal attorney to conduct an investigation on the methods of interrogation used on terrorist suspects has raised a lot of emotions.

It is quite understandable that Attorney's General Eric Holder's decision would cause indignation. It instantly brings to mind the ghastly time of the mindless, costly and, as it turned out, futile investigation against former First Lady Hillary Clinton. In this case, to suspect a political game is justified because the intention and manner of conducting the investigation are not clear.

First, is it possible to retroactively criminalize actions that were deemed legal and acceptable under the Bush administration? There are fears that many CIA agents will end up being charged for actions carried out under orders.

Second, there still isn't a clear definition of the concept of torture. Given the lack of a concise description of this abuse, what if the controversial (albeit effective) waterboarding is classified by the new federal attorney as torture, despite the fact that the Obama administration's strategy of interrogation of terrorist suspects has not changed much? It is the grey zone of unclear definitions that may become a field for those political games.

Third, such investigation may give rise to defensive attitudes in agencies that deal with fighting terrorism and with guarding security of the nation in general. Before they proceed to action, the agents will think twice to avoid potential legal repercussions in the future. The bureaucratic approach will win, although it is conventional, slow and ineffective.

Moreover, the sheer fact that the investigation has no precedence may give rise to an unhealthy and overzealous judgment of past administrations, whose actions suddenly will be defined as bordering on the criminal. Obama's administration may be treated the same way in the future, when a Republican team decides to judge its actions.

Fortunately, the scope of action for the appointed attorney, John H. Durham, will be clearly defined and will preclude his acting independently. He will be charged with investigating alleged CIA interrogation abuses and report them to the Attorney General. The latter can subsequently decide on further prosecution of the cases.

In reality, the investigative process will be extremely difficult; special congressional commissions and top-ranking legislators were well informed of all the rules of conduct and had approved them, even though some of them deny that now.

Whatever happens, the investigation will create controversies: if nothing comes of it, the prosecutor will be accused of empty and costly conduct for political effect; however, if somebody is prosecuted and sentenced, the results of that will be, as above, disastrous.