Obama officials release terror memos that guided CIA

The Obama administration ruled out prosecution of government interrogators as it released censored versions of legal memos that guided harsh questioning of terror suspects by the CIA under President George W. Bush.

The memos show that Justice Department lawyers authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to use such techniques as sleep deprivation, facial slaps and placing one high-ranking al-Qaeda suspect in a cramped box with what he was told was a stinging insect.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement that intelligence officials who relied on the Justice Department’s legal advice won’t be prosecuted for carrying out what some critics called torture. The memos were released in response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union.

“Exceptional circumstances surround these memos and require their release,” President Barack Obama said in a statement. “Withholding these memos would only serve to deny facts that have been in the public domain for some time.” He said making the documents public won’t jeopardize national security.

The legal advice no longer represents the views of the Justice Department, the administration said.

The ACLU called for releasing the memos in their entirety, saying government officials should be held accountable for what the group described as torture of terrorism suspects. A U.S. court gave the Justice Department until Thursday to release the memos or explain why it couldn’t.

The CIA argued for keeping certain details of the memos secret, raising concern about harming national security, according to a government official who spoke on condition of anonymity. The CIA declined to comment on that point.

Holder said in his statement, “It would be unfair to prosecute dedicated men and women working to protect America for conduct that was sanctioned in advance by the Justice Department.” He said the government will provide lawyers to help officials who are sued.

Last year, then-CIA Director Michael Hayden told Congress the agency used waterboarding, a technique of simulated drowning, on three terror suspects in 2002 and 2003.

He identified the detainees as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged planner of the Sept. 11 attacks; Abu Zubaydah, a reputed al-Qaeda leader and associate of Osama Bin Laden; and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a suspected al-Qaeda leader behind the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000.