Despite his White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel making very public assurances this weekend that he opposed such moves, President Barack Obama now says that he is open to probes into a drafting of the torture memos and that he would leave the prosecution of those who made the legal decisions behind the policies the memos spelled out at the discretion of Attorney General Eric Holder.

“With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that is going to be more a decision for the attorney general within the parameter of various laws, and I don’t want to prejudge that.” Obama said. He has, however, insisted that those agents who actually engaged in the torture should be immune from prosecution for their actions.

The sudden change on the question of the prosecution of policymakers of the harsh criticism he has received from human rights groups, as well as members of his own party, for minimizing the seriousness of the systemic torture practiced under the previous administration. Obama had previously spoken to the CIA about the matter and glibly declared “that’s how we learn.”

Last 5 posts by Jason Ditz

• Homegrown US 'Terror Plots' Drop, But Nation Still 'On Edge' - February 9th, 2012
• Amputations Soared Among US Troops in 2011 - February 9th, 2012
• US Still Can't Find Missing Libyan Missiles - February 9th, 2012
• Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood: Let Us Form Government - February 9th, 2012
• As Reports of Violence Grow in Syria, So Do Western Calls for Intervention - February 9th, 2012