CIA interrogators shielded from charges

By Randall Mikkelsen

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA interrogators who used waterboarding on terrorism suspects will not face prosecution, President Barack Obama said on Thursday in releasing Bush-era memos specifying that the practice did not constitute torture.

Obama affirmed his administration's unwillingness to prosecute under antitorture laws CIA personnel who relied in good faith on Bush administration legal opinions issued after the September 11 attacks.

The four memos Obama released approved techniques including waterboarding, week-long sleep deprivation, nudity and putting insects in with a tightly confined prisoner.

Obama was trying to balance between showing the world he would break with former President George W. Bush over the widely condemned treatment of terrorism suspects, and preserving the effectiveness of his intelligence agencies.

"I have already ended the techniques described in the memos," Obama said in a written statement released shortly after he arrived on a visit to Mexico.

However, he said "The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world. ... We must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs."

The Obama administration also said it would try to shield CIA employees from "any international or foreign tribunal" -- an immediate challenge to Spain, where a judge has threatened to investigate Bush administration officials.

Human rights advocates denounced Obama, saying charges were needed to prevent future abuses and hold people accountable, and some lawmakers called for public investigations.