Obama defends memo release during CIA visit

Hurriyet Daily News with wires

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Days after releasing top-secret memos that detailed the CIA's use of simulated drowning while interrogating terror suspects, U.S. President Barack Obama went to the spy agency's headquarters to defend his decision and boost morale.

Last week, Obama's Justice Department published previously classified memos that described the Bush administration's legal justification for CIA interrogation techniques that included methods criticized as torture.

Republican lawmakers and former CIA chiefs have criticized the release, contending that revealing the limits of interrogation techniques will hamper the effectiveness of interrogators. Former Vice President Dick Cheney kept the debate alive by asking the CIA to release documents showing the "success" of the widely condemned program launched by former President George W. Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks. The memos detailed the use of waterboarding - a form of simulated drowning that Attorney General Eric Holder has denounced as torture - as well as sleep deprivation, isolation and physical violence.

Exceptional circumstances
According to the declassified memos, waterboarding was used on alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Muhammed 183 times in March 2003. Suspected al-Qaeda logistics chief Abu Zubaydah was subjected to the treatment 83 times in August 2002.

Obama said Monday that a court case was going to force the memos to be released and that much of what they contained had already been compromised through leaks to news media.

"I acted primarily because of the exceptional circumstances that surrounded these memos, particularly the fact that so much of the information was public," he said. The president urged the hundreds of CIA employees who gathered in a secure auditorium to ignore the recent controversy.

"Don't be discouraged by what's happened the last few weeks," he said. A round of cheers erupted when CIA chief Leon Panetta introduced Obama, who quickly reassured them that they had his backing. "I know the last few days have been difficult. You need to know you've got my full support."

But Obama also heard a reminder of the intense criticism his decision sparked from many in the intelligence community. Four former CIA directors and several senior agency officials opposed the release of the memos. "You don't get credit when things go good, but you sure get some blame when things don't," Obama said.

Obama met privately with Panetta and about 50 CIA employees, fielding questions about his decision to release the memos and on other topics. Panetta had agreed to releasing the memos, but he also pressed for heavier censorship. The memos were only lightly redacted when they were released last Thursday.

Obama has vowed not to seek prosecution of CIA agents and interrogators who took part in waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics. His chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, said this weekend that the Obama administration also won't seek prosecution for the Bush administration lawyers who wrote the memos approving the tactics.

Release was mistake: Cheney
Meanwhile, former Vice-President Dick Cheney has urged the CIA to release memos, which he claimed show harsh interrogation techniques such as water-boarding work. He said that the decision to publish the memos was a mistake.

Cheney also said in a "Fox News" interview with Sean Hannity that he found it disturbing that Obama did not also release memos that the ex-VP said documented the effectiveness of the interrogations - a point contested by some experts. The CIA declined to comment on Cheney's remarks, according to a report by Reuters.

"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is that they put out the legal memos... but they didn't put out the memos that show the success of the effort," Cheney told Fox News.

"There are reports that show specifically what we gained as a result of this activity. The American people should have a chance to weigh the intelligence obtained alongside the legal debate," he added.