Obama: Bush-era policies have weakened national security
WASHINGTON -- President Obama said Thursday that some of the terror suspects now being held at Guantanamo Bay may end up in the nation's "supermax" prisons, and he said the United States may have to indefinitely hold others if it is clear that releasing them would endanger the American people.
Obama said an ad hoc, ineffective legal framework set up to fight terrorism by the Bush administration has "weakened American national security" since the 9/11 attacks.
In a speech at the National Archives aimed at explaining his policies toward detainees and hushing critics who say he could put the nation at risk by closing the Guantanamo prison, Obama vowed to continue dismantling flawed policies that he said have been used as a rallying cry for terrorists.
He denounced those who he said have engaged in "fear-mongering" for political purposes as he has banned enhanced interrogation techniques and released Bush administration memos authorizing what he calls torture.
Obama emphasized that his main motivation is protecting the nation from future acts of terrorism.
"My single most important responsibility as president is to keep the American people safe," he said, flanked by pages from the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. "That is the first thing that I think about when I wake up in the morning. It is the last thing that I think about when I go to sleep at night."
His speech came just hours after the Justice Department announced it would send a senior al-Qaeda suspect now held at Guantanamo Bay to New York City for trial in criminal court.
Ahmed Ghailani was indicted by a federal grand jury in New York for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa that killed 224 people, including 12 Americans.
He will be the first Guantanamo detainees brought to the U.S. for trial.
"Let me begin by disposing of one argument as plainly as I can: we are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security, nor will we release detainees within the United States who endanger the American people," Obama said.
Related Stories
ABC News Live