Obama defends torture memo to CIA

Obama defends torture memo to CIA
By Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: April 21 2009 00:12 | Last updated: April 21 2009 00:12
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/78ffb1d2-2dff-11de-9eba-00144feabdc0.html


Barack Obama, US president, went to the Central Intelligence Agency on Monday to explain his controversial decision last week to release secret Bush-era legal memos that allowed interrogators to torture detainees.

Speaking to hundreds of CIA employees during his first visit to the spy agency, Mr Obama acknowledged that the days since the release “have been difficult”. But he stressed the move was needed to restore American values, which critics say George W. Bush tarnished with his detention and interrogation policies.

“What makes the US special and what makes you special is precisely the fact that we are willing to uphold our values and our ideals even when it’s hard, not just when it’s easy; even when we are afraid and under threat, not just when it’s expedient to do so,” Mr Obama said.

Some critics have called on the president to prosecute officials who condoned the use of torture, including Jay Bybee, the former justice department official who wrote some of the memos.

Last week, however, Mr Obama said his administration would not target CIA operatives who had employed harsh questioning methods on the understanding that they were approved by the justice department memos. The memos allowed interrogators to use “enhanced interrogation techniques” such as sleep deprivation and waterboarding, in which operatives pour water through a cloth covering a detainee’s face to simulate drowning.

As details of the CIA’s secret detention and interrogation programme emerged during the final years of the Bush administration, officials argued that waterboarding had only been used on three detainees, including Khaled Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks.

One of the memos revealed that the controversial technique had been used on KSM – as the Pakistani national is known inside the CIA – 183 times.

Republicans and CIA officials have criticised Mr Obama for releasing the documents. Michael Hayden, who served as CIA director under Mr Bush, was one of four former heads of the spy agency who urged the White House not to act.

At the weekend Mr Hayden said Leon Panetta, the current director who was appointed by Mr Obama, had also disagreed with the move. In explaining his decision, Mr Obama said some CIA employees had expressed “understandable anxiety and concern” over his decision, but he stressed that the move was necessary even if it did complicate the roles of CIA operatives

“So yes, you’ve got a harder job and so do I. And that’s OK, because that’s why we can take such extraordinary pride in being Americans,” he said. “And over the long term, that is why I believe we will defeat our enemies because we’re on the better side of history.”