Bush aides may be prosecuted for interrogations

US PRESIDENT Barack Obama envisages prosecuting former officials who authorised terror interrogations seen by critics as torture, as a senate report said top Bush aides were to blame.

Obama distinguished between intelligence operatives acting under White House legal authority who used coercive tactics on al-Qaida suspects and George W Bush administration lawyers who devised the legal cover 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,” added Obama.

Obama’s chief of staff Rahm Emanuel had said on Sunday the president did not want to pursue those who “devised policy”, but White House spokesman Robert Gibbs denied Obama had remade previous administration policy.

A new senate report put responsibility for the tactics squarely on top officials.