Gibbs leaves door open to torture prosecutions

During the White House press briefing today, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs left the door open to prosecuting those who devised the legal arguments supporting harsh interrogation techniques, saying the President believes the law must be upheld.

“The president’s general posture is to move forward, but nobody is above the law,” Gibbs said, adding that the final determination on prosecutions would be left to the Attorney General.

Obama said today that he opposes prosecuting those who carried out interrogations in good faith, but added that the decision to charge those who formulated the law is “more of a decision for the attorney general within the parameters of various laws, and I don’t want to prejudge that.”

The President indicated he might support an investigation into Bush-era detainee policy if it was conducted in a bipartisan manner.

Gibbs said the President had the 9/11 commission in mind as a possible model.

“Without prejudging whether a commission should be set up, I think that;s what he had in mind,” Gibbs.