Senior Bush figures could be prosecuted for torture, says Obama (Ewen MacAskill & Robert Booth)

  President says use of waterboarding showed US had 'lost moral bearings' as Dick Cheney says CIA memos showed torture delivered 'good' intelligence

  Ewen MacAskill and Robert Booth -- The Guardian

  April 21,  2009 -- Senior members of the Bush administration who approved the use of waterboarding and other harsh interrogation measures could face prosecution, President Obama disclosed Tuesday.

  He said the use of torture reflected America "losing our moral bearings".

  He said his attorney general, Eric Holder, was conducting an investigation and the decision rested with him. Obama last week ruled out prosecution of CIA agents who carried out the interrogation of suspected al-Qaida members at Guantánamo and secret prisons around the world.

  But for the first time he opened up the possibility that those in the administration who gave the go-ahead for the use of waterboarding could be prosecuted.