New York: US President-elect Barack Obama has not ruled out prosecution of the outgoing administration's officials for civil liberty abuses, but said he was more focussed on making sure that "moving forward we are doing the right thing".

Indicating reluctance to order a broad inquiry into the Bush administration's controversial programmes about eavesdropping and interrogations, Obama voiced his willingness to get specific cases investigated.

Obama said his team is still evaluating the whole issue of interrogations and detentions.

"Obviously, we are looking at past practices and I don't believe anyone is above the law," he told ABC in an interview.

"But my instinct is for us to focus on how do we make sure that moving forward we are doing the right thing. That doesn't mean that if somebody has blatantly broken the law, that they are above the law," he added.

When pressed as to whether he will instruct his Justice Department to investigate such accusations, Obama said his nominated attorney general, Eric Holder will work to uphold the Constitution but will not be swayed by politics.

"When it comes to my attorney general he is the people's lawyer. His job is to uphold the Constitution and look after the interests of the American people, not to be swayed by my day-to-day politics.

"So, ultimately, he's going to be making some calls, but my general belief is that when it comes to national security, what we have to focus on is getting things right in the future, as opposed to looking at what we got wrong in the past," he added.

However, Obama criticised Vice President Dick Cheney for his defense of "extraordinary" interrogation methods.
Source : PTI