Obama may prosecute over torture | theage.com.au

Obama may prosecute over torture

* Ewen Macaskill, Washington
* April 23, 2009
* Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View

IN A surprise about-turn, US President Barack Obama says members of the Bush administration who approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures could face prosecution.

Mr Obama said his Attorney-General, Eric Holder, was conducting an investigation and the final decision rested with him. Mr Obama referred to four Bush administration memos he released last week detailing CIA interrogation measures, saying they "reflected, in my view, us losing our moral bearings".
Obama open to torture charges

US President Barack Obama said he is open to prosecuting officials who laid the legal groundwork for harsh interrogation of detained terror suspects.

Mr Obama also lifted his opposition to a separate congressional inquiry. Last night, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said the President would like to see the inquiry modelled on the 9/11 commission. Mr Obama reiterated that there would be no prosecutions of CIA agents who carried out the interrogation of suspected al-Qaeda members at Guantanamo Bay and secret prisons around the world.

But for the first time he opened up the possibility that those in the Bush administration who gave the go-ahead for waterboarding and other interrogation techniques could be prosecuted.

"For those who carried out some of these operations within the four corners of legal opinions or guidance that had been provided from the White House, I do not think it's appropriate for them to be prosecuted," Mr Obama said. "With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the Attorney-General, within the parameters of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that."

White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel said only three days ago that the Administration did not favour prosecutions of those who had devised the policy, and Mr Gibbs echoed that on Monday.

Mr Obama again indicated that he remained opposed to politicisation of the issue, saying it might hamper national security operations. But he added: "If and when there needs to be a further accounting of what took place during this period, I think for Congress to examine ways that it can be done in a bipartisan fashion â?¦ that would probably be a more sensible approach to take."

Republicans reacted angrily. "What happened to him talking about not looking backward, about looking forward?" said Republican senator John Ensign of Nevada. "I think it's a huge mistake," said Republican senator Lindsey Graham. "If we start criminalising legal advice given to a past president, advice you may disagree with, that's on the margins of legal thought, in your opinion, you've really harmed the presidency."

Mr Obama's own Director of National Intelligence privately told his workforce last week that the now-banned methods had produced valuable information.

"High-value information came from interrogations in which those methods were used and provided a deeper understanding of the al-Qaeda organisation that was attacking this country," Dennis Blair wrote in an April 16 memo to staff.

A version of the memo was distributed to the media without that line. But in a statement to the White House summarising his views, Mr Blair said: "The damage (the interrogation methods) have done to our interests far outweighed whatever benefit they gave us and they are not essential to our national security."
luciddreamer Reviewed by luciddreamer on . Obama says torturers may face prosecution Obama may prosecute over torture | theage.com.au Obama may prosecute over torture * Ewen Macaskill, Washington * April 23, 2009 * Page 1 of 2 | Single Page View IN A surprise about-turn, US President Barack Obama says members of the Bush administration who approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures could face prosecution. Rating: 5