Obama urged to reinvestigate CIA prisoner abuse cases

US Justice Department officials have urged President Barack Obama to reinvestigate CIA prisoner abuse cases, raising the prospect of a damaging political sideshow, as Obama seeks to focus on healthcare and climate change.

The department’s ethics watchdog has recommended considering prosecuting CIA employees or contractors for harsh interrogations in Iraq and Afghanistan that went beyond approved limits, a government official said.

The development came as the Justice Department prepares to release a long-awaited CIA inspector general report that will offer new details of prisoner abuse, such as coercing suspects to confess after threats of bodily harm.

US attorney general Eric Holder is also expected to decide soon whether to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the allegations of abuse, including death threats.

All together, those looming decisions coupled with the gory details about interrogation practices – which Obama ordered halted when he took office – is likely to set off a firestorm at a crucial time.

Obama has repeatedly said he wants to focus on moving forward rather than dwell on policies the Bush administration pushed though in the wake of the September 11 attacks.

The controversy has left Obama open to attacks that he is soft on national security, and the decisions facing his top law enforcement officer threaten to reopen that debate.

Instead, Obama has been trying to keep the attention focused on his top legislative priority – overhauling the $2.5 trillion (€1.75tr) health care system.

Now, lawmakers could be distracted with hearings and debate over the past interrogation methods.

When Obama took office, he ordered that government agencies must abide by interrogation limits in the US Army Field Manual, which does not include the simulated drowning technique known as waterboarding.

Bush officials, including former vice president Dick Cheney, have said torture was never used and defended their interrogation practices, which included sleep and food deprivation as well as waterboarding of a handful of suspects.

Meanwhile, Obama has decided to establish a new group of experts to handle interrogation of terrorism suspects.

They would be limited to the army manual and techniques used by law enforcement officials.

The group will be housed at the FBI and “will draw on experienced interrogators from different departments, including the intelligence community and law enforcement,” the official said. “Their goal will be intelligence collection”.