WASHINGTON — President Obama said Tuesday that he would not rule out prosecuting senior Bush administration officials who provided the legal rationale for harsh interrogation techniques used against detainees in the war on terrorism.
He also laid out a blueprint for using an independent commission to examine those policies carried out by CIA officers in secret prisons overseas.
Obama reiterated personal assurances that there would be no prosecutions of CIA agents who applied the rough techniques, which included striking prisoners in the face, confining them in coffin-sized boxes and subjecting them to simulated drowning known as waterboarding.
"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 told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
But he added: "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."
Obama's comments represented a shift from his administration's position of trying to keep the focus on the future and avoid a partisan fight.
But pressure from human rights groups and many liberals -- who consider the Bush administration tactics an illegal and immoral use of torture -- made that position untenable.
The demands for an investigation have grown more intense since the release last week of memos prepared by the Justice Department under President George W. Bush that set out in graphic detail what methods were permissible.
Obama's comments Tuesday triggered anxiety at the CIA and raised the prospect that Bush officials could remain under a cloud for months or years.
Within hours, employees at the agency were sending one another anxious e-mails, according to a former senior U.S. intelligence official.
"What the president said today will send a chill inside the agency," said the former official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss intelligence issues.
In the past, Obama has allowed for the possibility of prosecution where clear violations of law were found regarding detainee treatment. But his emphasis was always on moving forward, on banning torture and other harsh interrogation methods in his administration.
