The U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee has begun a preliminary investigation into a report that the Bush White House asked the CIA to uncover damaging personal information on University of Michigan Professor Juan Cole, a prominent critic of the Iraq War. Appearing on CNN, Juan Cole urged U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to look into the spy operation.

Juan Cole: “And it’s just impossible for me to believe that the White House asked the CIA to Google me, that they were just passing along publicly available information. There must have been an implication that they should actively dig up some kind of dirt. And that is illegal, and it’s extremely troubling. And I believe that the Senate Intelligence Committee, the House Intelligence Committee should open investigations, should subpoena documents, should get names, should find out what was going on, who the request came from at the White House, what’s the background of this.”