Washington  - US President Barack Obama has not ruled out the possibility of prosecuting officials who drafted the policies allowing harsh interrogation tactics against prisoners in the war on terrorism.

Obama said Tuesday that the decision will be left to the chief of the US Justice Department, Attorney General Eric Holder, about whether those who drafted the policies should be criminally investigated.

"With respect to those who formulated those legal decisions, I would say that that is going to be more of a decision for the attorney general within the perimeters of various laws, and I don't want to prejudge that," Obama said.

Days after taking office, Obama banned the harsh techniques enacted by the Bush administration to provide guidance to the CIA, including the use of water boarding. Critics alleged the practices amounted to torture.

Obama exempted CIA personnel from prosecution when he released the memos last week, saying they were merely following the procedures outlined under the Bush White House and Justice Department.

The "memos that were released reflected, in my view, us losing our moral bearings. That's why I've discontinued those enhanced interrogation programmes," Obama said.

Obama also said that any congressional inquiry or the establishing of a truth commission should be non-partisan and not politicized, but "done in order to learn some lessons so that we move forward in an effective way." (dpa)