Democratic vice-presidential nominee Joe Biden said yesterday that he and running mate Barack Obama could pursue criminal charges against the Bush administration if they are elected in November.

Biden's comments, first reported by ABC news, attracted little notice on a day dominated by the drama surrounding his Republican counterpart, Alaska governor Sarah Palin.

But his statements represent the Democrats' strongest vow so far this year to investigate alleged misdeeds committed during the Bush years.

'If there has been a basis upon which you can pursue someone for a criminal violation, they will be pursued,' Biden said during a campaign event in Deerfield Beach, Florida, according to ABC.

'[N]ot out of vengeance, not out of retribution,' he added, 'out of the need to preserve the notion that no one, no attorney general, no president -- no one is above the law.'

....Congressional Democrats have issued a flurry of subpoenas this year to senior Bush administration aides as part of a broad inquiry into the authorisation of torturous interrogation tactics used at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. ....