US opens door to terror cases against Bush officials

UN: President Barack Obama Tuesday opened the door to prosecuting Bush-era officials who authorized terror interrogations seen by critics as torture, wading into a deep legal and political thicket.

Obama distinguished between intelligence operatives acting under White House legal authority who used coercive tactics on Al-Qaeda suspects and Bush administration lawyers who devised the legal cover needed for their actions. “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,” 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 perimeters of various laws. “I don’t want to prejudge that. I think that there are a host of very complicated issues involved there.”

Obama’s position appeared to differ from that of his chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, expressed on ABC News show “This Week” on Sunday, when he said that the president did not want to pursue those who “devised policy.”

WASHINGTON, AFP