George W. Bush torture terror suspects

The former U.S. president broke his silence over the controversial issue to insist that interrogation methods such as waterboarding and sleep deprivation helped save lives by gaining valuable intelligence.

But he shied away from directly criticising his successor Barack Obama, who has banned the CIA from using the techniques.

'It was a rollercoaster of emotions, it really was.

I vowed to take whatever steps that were necessary to protect you,' he said in a speech to a largely sympathetic crowd of about 2,500 people in Benton, Michigan.

'The first thing you ask is, what's legal?

'What do the lawyers say is possible?'

Although careful to avoid using the words 'torture' and 'abuse', Mr Bush added: 'You have to make tough decisions.

'They've captured a guy who murdered 3,000 citizens and that affected me.


'They come in and they say he may have more information.


'We had an anthrax attack. What do you do?'

The remarks come after Mr Bush's vice president Dick Cheney claimed the harsh methods were justified to protect the U.S. from further attacks.