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.

He noted that more than 500 detainees were released during the Bush administration and only three convicted during that time.

Of the 240 remaining, some will be tried in federal courts, some will by tried by military commissions, some will be released, some will be transferred to other countries and some may have to be held indefinitely.

"This is the toughest issue we will face," Obama said, referring to detainees who cannot be prosecuted for particular crimes but who clearly pose a threat.

Answering critics who say it would be unsafe to send detainees to the nation's highest-security prisons, Obama said the nation's "supermax" prisons already hold hundreds of convicted terrorists and no one has ever escaped.

As Obama spoke, former vice president Cheney, who has already spent weeks publicly defending the Bush administration policies with respect to terror suspects, was giving his own speech across town.

He criticized Obama's decision, on his second day in office, to shutter Guantanamo Bay, saying it was made with "little deliberation and no plan."

The Senate on Wednesday voted 90-6 to withhold $80 million in funding for the closure because Obama has not yet presented a specific plan for what to do with the 240 remaining detainees.

Another major flash point for Cheney has been Obama's order to ban what he has called the "torture" of terror suspects by CIA and military interrogators.

Speaking at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, Cheney defended the methods used and said the government obtained information that thwarted attacks and saved thousands of lives.

He derided what he called "contrived indignation and phony moralizing" about the techniques.

Obama had a different take.

"I know some have argued that brutal methods like water-boarding were necessary to keep us safe," he said. "I could not disagree more. As commander-in-chief, I see the intelligence, I bear responsibility for keeping this country safe, and I reject the assertion that these are the most effective means of interrogation. What's more, they undermine the rule of law. They alienate us in the world. They serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists, and increase the will of our enemies to fight us."

Contributing: Richard Wolf and Ken Dilanian in Washington