Obama buries hatchet with CIA over memos

President Barack Obama sets out to heal a rift with America's spy agency over the release of secret memos on harsh interrogation methods. The US president made his first visit to the Central Intelligence Agency headquarters on Monday in an attempt to pacify American spies following the release of the most complete account of the Bush administration's interrogation techniques. "Don't be discouraged by what's happened the last few weeks. Don't be discouraged that we have to acknowledge potentially we have made some mistakes -- that's how we learn," President Obama told agency employees. "We live in dangerous times. I am going to need you more than ever," he said, shoring up CIA morale. The visit came after the Justice Department made public classified Bush-era memos detailing the controversial CIA interrogation program. The tactics included previously unacknowledged strategies of "slamming a prisoner into a wall" and "placing an insect near a detainee terrified of bugs." Another memo revealed that waterboarding had been used a total of 266 times on two of the three al Qaeda suspects that the agency had previously acknowledged were subjected to waterboarding. "So I want to make a point that...I understand that it's hard when you are asked to protect the American people against people who have no scruples and would willingly and gladly kill innocents," President Obama added. Civil liberties groups have called for torture charges to be brought against CIA employees, arguing that the "Nuremberg defense" of following orders is unacceptable. The US president, however, said that his administration would prosecute neither CIA interrogators nor the authors of the memos because they acted on the basis of the department's legal blessing. President Obama said he had ended the techniques revealed in the memos "because I believe our nation is stronger and more secure when we deploy the full measure of both our power and the power of our values, including the rule of law." Leon E. Panetta, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, vowed to respect a ban issued by President Obama in January on harsh interrogations methods. President Obama's decision to release the interrogation memo caused a fierce battle within the highest ranks of the White House about the benefits of releasing the information. Gary Berntsen, a former CIA officer, hit out at President Obama over the release of the details, saying "Part of the problem is that this administration can't control themselves in terms of continuing to throw mud at their predecessors. The decision seemed to be political."