The incoming administration of US president-elect Barack Obama is unlikely to bring criminal charges against government officials who authorized or engaged in harsh interrogation of terrorist suspects during the George W. Bush presidency.
Obama, who has criticized the use of torture, is being urged by some constitutional scholars and human rights groups to investigate possible war crimes by the Bush administration.
Two Obama advisers said there was little chance if any that the next president’s Justice Department would go after anyone involved in authorizing or carrying out interrogations that provoked worldwide outrage.
The advisers spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans still are tentative. A spokesman for Obama’s transition team did not respond to requests for comment on Monday.
Additionally, the question of whether to prosecute may never become relevant; Bush could issue pre-emptive pardons to protect those involved before he leaves office.
Obama replaces Bush as president on Jan. 20. The president-elect has committed to reviewing interrogations on al-Qaeda and other terror suspects. After he takes office, Obama is expected to create a panel modeled after the 9/11 commission to study interrogations, including those during which waterboarding and other tactics that critics call torture were used. The panel’s findings would be used to ensure that future interrogations were undisputedly legal.
The 9/11 commission studied government actions before and after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the US and recommended changes to correct shortcomings and prevent similar strikes.
“I have said repeatedly that America doesn’t torture, and I’m going to make sure that we don’t torture,” Obama said on Sunday in his first national TV interview since the Nov. 4 elections put him in line to become the US’ 44th president. “Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America’s moral stature in the world.”
Obama’s most ardent supporters are split over whether he should prosecute Bush officials.
Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy was asked during a radio weekend whether Bush administration officials would face war crimes allegations.
“In the United States, no,” Leahy said. “These things are not going to happen.”
Robert Litt, a former top Justice Department prosecutor in the last Democratic administration under president Bill Clinton, said Obama should focus on moving forward with anti-torture policy instead of looking back.
“Both for policy and political reasons, it would not be beneficial to spend a lot of time hauling people up before Congress or before grand juries and going over what went on,” Litt said at a Brookings Institution discussion about Obama’s legal policy. “To as great of an extent we can say: the last eight years are over; now we can move forward. That would be beneficial both to the country and the president, politically.”
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