Revealed: Obama was quoting Times writer

President Obama last night waded back into the bitter controversy over the CIA’s harsh interrogation of terror suspects by declaring clearly that the waterboarding authorised by the Bush Administration was torture.

In a White House press conference, Mr Obama said that the simulated drowning technique used repeatedly on detainees such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had violated “our ideals and our values”.

He added: “I do believe that it is torture. I don't think that's just my opinion; that's the opinion of many who've examined the topic. And that's why I put an end to these practices.”

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Although Mr Obama described the decision by the previous Administration to sanction such interrogations as a “mistake”, rather than — as human rights groups allege — a crime, he also rebuffed claims that they were necessary to save lives by yielding vital intelligence on al-Qaeda plots.

“We could have gotten this information in other ways, in ways that were consistent with our values,” he said, “in ways that were consistent with who we are.”

Citing the experience of Britain in the Second World War, “when London was being bombed to smithereens”, he pointed out that Winston Churchill had refused to allow torture of 200 German detainees because to have done so would have corroded “the character of a country”.

President Obama had earlier marked his 100th day in office by pleading for patience from America which, he warned, faced tough choices, hard decisions and "a much longer journey ahead".

Having reached the symbolic milestone with his popularity largely intact, Mr Obama knows that he must now embark on an uphill climb to conquer an ever-larger mountain of crisis both at home and abroad.

Yesterday new sets of figures were released showing that the economy had shrunk at a worse than expected pace of 6.1 per cent at the start of this year and the number of swine flu cases had swelled to nearly 100 across America, including a a young child who was confirmed to have died from the virus in Texas.

When he hosted his press conference last night, Mr Obama faced questions not only about the economy or the need to close the border with Mexico but also whether he could be sure that Pakistan's nuclear arsenal would not fall into the hands of Islamic extremists. He replied that the country would handle the issue on its own, but added: “I am gravely concerned about the situation in Pakistan . . . the civilian Government there right now is very fragile and don't seem to have the capacity to deliver basic services: schools, health care, rule of law, a judicial system.”

Yesterday morning he travelled to a suburb of St Louis, Missouri, to declare: "Today, on my 100th day in office, I've come back to report to you, the American people, that we have begun to pick ourselves up and dust ourselves off, and we've begun the work of remaking America.

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