War crimes threat by Obama

BARACK Obama has left open the prospect of bringing "war crimes" charges against members of the Bush administration.

As he admitted the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba was likely to remain open for the first 100 days of his presidency, the president-elect said charges could be brought against senior officials in the outgoing administration.

Mr Obama, now just over a week away from assuming full power on his 20 January inauguration, said no one was "above the law".

President Bush has faced a wave of criticism over the detention of suspects and the use of torture to obtain confessions and information in the fight against al Qaeda.

Mr Obama kept the door open for possible charges against members of the Bush government when asked on a TV political show whether he was going to appoint a special prosecutor to look into claims of abuse.

He said: "We're still evaluating how we're going to approach the whole issue of interrogations, detentions, and so forth. And obviously we're going to look at past practices. And I don't believe that anybody is above the law." But Mr Obama said he would not want to do anything that stripped power and effectiveness from the CIA and other agencies fighting the terror threat.

He said: "I have a belief that we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards. And part of my job is to make sure that, for example at the CIA, you've got extraordinarily talented people who are working very hard to keep Americans safe.

"I don't want them to suddenly feel like they've got to spend all their time looking over their shoulders and lawyering up."

Asked by interviewer George Stephanopoulos if he would consider a 9/11 style independent commission, Mr Obama replied that no final decisions had been made.

"My instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward, we are doing the right thing," he said. "That doesn't mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law, that they are above the law. But my orientation's going to be to move forward."

He said the US must "engage" in talks with Iran, which he accepted as his biggest overseas challenge, rather than face a nuclear showdown.

On the escalating crisis in Gaza, he said the Middle East would be his focus from "day one "of his administration. On a lighter note, Mr Obama revealed the search for a White House dog for his daughters had been narrowed to a choice of two: a labradoodle or a Portuguese water hound.

"We're closing in on it. This has been tougher than finding a commerce secretary," he joked.