US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday it would have been "unrealistic" to keep secret sensitive memos on harsh interrogations as their eventual disclosure was "inevitable."

In his first public comments on the controversy, Gates indicated he supported the release of the Bush-era memos, despite concerns about protecting CIA officers from prosecution and a possible backlash against US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Gates said a combination of congressional investigations and pending lawsuits meant it would be virtually impossible to keep the information in the memos secret.

"I think pretending that we could hold all of this, and keep it all a secret, even if we wanted to, I think was pretty unrealistic. So we'll just have to deal with it," he told reporters.

"There is a certain inevitability I believe that much of this will eventually come out and much has already come out," he said during a visit to the Camp Lejeune military base in North Carolina.

The Pentagon chief and former CIA director described the release of the documents as a difficult decision.

"All of us wrestled with it for quite some time."

Gates said his top concern was ensuring CIA officers who he said were following orders would not be prosecuted for carrying out the harsh interrogations during former president George W. Bush's administration.

"I felt very strongly the importance that they be protected and against all different kinds of possible prosecutions," he said.

President Barack Obama has said CIA officers involved in interrogations should not be prosecuted as they had received legal guidance from their superiors.

Gates served as director of the Central Intelligence Agency under ex-president George H.W. Bush.

Gates' remarks came after Obama this week left the door open to prosecuting senior administration officials over the treatment of detainees and amid calls for the creation of a commission to review "war on terror" tactics of the past eight years, including use of the simulated drowning technique known as "waterboarding."

Gates also said the release of the memos made him "quite concerned about the potential backlash in the Middle East and in the theaters where we are involved in conflict, and that it might have a negative impact on our troops."

Asked if he backed the release of the memos, Gates said: "My own view was that I regarded the information about a lot of these things coming out as inevitable, and therefore how do we try and manage it in the best possible way."

Gates spoke to reporters while visiting the Camp Lejeune base where US Marines are preparing to deploy to Afghanistan in the next few weeks.

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Top US Senator: No 'torture' commission now

Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Thursday that he opposed, for now, creating an independent commission to probe harsh Bush-era interrogation techniques widely branded as torture.

But Reid, who has denounced as torture the use of the near-drowning tactic called waterboarding, said he might be open to the idea once the Senate Intelligence Committee wraps up its enquiry into the matter later this year.

"I think it would be very unwise, from my perspective, to start having commissions, boards, tribunals, until we find out what the facts are. And I don't know a better way of getting the facts than through the Intelligence Committee. I think that's a pretty good way to do it," said the Nevada Senator.

He spoke as Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who reportedly favors creating a special commission, said lawmakers briefed on CIA interrogations were never told the agency was using the harsh methods.

"We were not, I repeat, were not told that waterboarding or any of these other enhanced interrogation methods were used," said Pelosi, one of the eight senior lawmakers who attended the classified briefings.

Pelosi said the briefers told lawmakers in the highly secret sessions that they had legal advice that the methods "could be used, but not that they would."

The Washington Post reported in December 2007 that Pelosi was among a handful of lawmakers to whom the tactics were disclosed, and House Republican Minority Leader John Boehner said that she had been "fully briefed."

"All of this information was downloaded to congressional leaders of both parties, with no objections being raised," he told reporters amid mounting calls for creating an independent panel to investigate the interrogations.

Asked about the growing pressure, Reid said he had spoken recently with Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, who had indicated she planned to "complete this work sometime late this year."

"They will make a public report," he said.

"And then I think it's appropriate to start talking about what we do with that information. But until we get that information, I think we'd all be better off just relaxing, understanding how difficult this is," he said.

After a blizzard of disclosures — including memos detailing the kinds of methods used, a timeline of CIA interrogation decisions, and a Senate report detailing how harsh interrogations became currency at Guantanamo Bay then spread to Afghanistan and Iraq — Reid warned of "spotty" information.

"A few months waiting to determine the right way to go about this is certainly not going to hurt us," he said, adding he was "not opposed" in principle to calls for an independent enquiry.

Reid told reporters he had received "a number of briefings" over the years on the tactics being used and said: "When I disagreed with what was given to me, I raised those objections."

His comments came as the Senate faced a heavy legislative agenda over the coming weeks, packed with controversial measures that will require support from at least a few Republicans to pass.

In a message perhaps geared to Republicans who have sternly warned against calls to prosecute those behind the harsh interrogations approach, Reid promised "retribution should not be part of what we're talking about."

Senator Richard Durbin, the number two Democrat in the chamber, fully backed Reid, saying the Senate Intelligence Committee had "aggressively" pried information from classified nooks and crannies and brought it to light.

"I think it is in our best interest that we are going to do this sensibly, prudently, to wait until Senator Feinstein completes this investigation. I know she is going to do it in a conscientious and professional way," said Durbin.

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