Obama leaves Bush aides open to torture charges

BARACK OBANMA has refused to rule out prosecuting Bush administration officials who sanctioned the torture methods used in the interrogation of terror suspects.

In a surprising about-face, the President said the US had lost its "moral bearings" with use of the tactics and held open the possibility of criminal action against those who allowed it to go ahead.

Mr Obama said he would support an independent commission to look at whether officials should face criminal charges.

The President's comments follow a morale-boosting visit to the CIA headquarters, where he emphasised that the agents responsible for implementing the "torture" techniques, such as waterboarding, would not be prosecuted.

He said they had used the "harsh and painful" methods on the understanding they were legally approved by the justice department.

But in a clear change from the language he and his administration have used in the past, the President said: "With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say 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. I think that there are a host of very complicated issues involved there."

Only 24 hours ago the White House had taken the position that the administration did not see any reason to "hold accountable" those Bush lawyers who gave the green light to the interrogation techniques.

White House press spokesman Robert Gibbs had said the President was "focused on moving forward". Rahm Emanuel, Mr Obama's chief of staff, had earlier said those who devised policy should not be prosecuted.

Those facing a possible inquiry are the three men who wrote a series of memos that have since been released detailing the interrogation techniques allowed to extract information from al Qaeda suspects.

They are Jay Bybee, a former assistant attorney general who is now a federal judge, and his deputies John Yoo and Steven Bradbury. Legal experts said the men drafted the memos to support the policies of more senior officials - attorneys general John Ashcroft and Alberto Gonzales, CIA director George Tenet, defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld and ultimately George Bush and Vice-President Dick Cheney.

Mr Obama has outlawed the use of the methods detailed in the memos and closed down the secret CIA prisons where the torture was carried out.

The White House said today that Mr Obama has invited Egyptian, Israeli and Palestinian leaders for talks in the next few weeks on the Middle East peace process. There was no indication whether the Arab and Israeli leaders would meet face to face.