President Barack Obama‘s speech at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C. yesterday was…eventful. To say the least.
The anticipated speech was the first in his second term to extensively discuss counterterrorism and his administration’s use of drones; another “scandal” to hit the White House in a matter of weeks. The U.S. government formally acknowledged for the first time on Wednesday that it had killed four Americans using drones in Yemen and Pakistan, including militant cleric Anwar al-Awlaki
He also used the speech to outline and justify the current counterterrorism policy, including increased cooperation with Congress on matters of national security, added transparency regarding the use of drones, and a review of current threats facing the United States.
It might all sound like your run-of-the-mill press conference, but it set the stage for both the war on terror and our basic human rights. And then…there was the heckler. Check out what you missed yesterday.
Obama Promises To Shut Down Guantanamo Bay:
As Gitmo threatens to create new enemies of the state and diminish America’s moral standing, Obama used this speech to address his promise to close the detainment center because…well…because it wasn’t a good idea in the first place.
As President, I have tried to close GTMO. I transferred 67 detainees to other countries before Congress imposed restrictions to effectively prevent us from either transferring detainees to other countries, or imprisoning them in the United States. These restrictions make no sense. After all, under President Bush, some 530 detainees were transferred from GTMO with Congress’s support. When I ran for President the first time, John McCain supported closing GTMO. No person has ever escaped from one of our super-max or military prisons in the United States. Our courts have convicted hundreds of people for terrorism-related offenses, including some who are more dangerous than most GTMO detainees. Given my Administration’s relentless pursuit of al Qaeda’s leadership, there is no justification beyond politics for Congress to prevent us from closing a facility that should never have been opened…
I know the politics are hard. But history will cast a harsh judgment on this aspect of our fight against terrorism, and those of us who fail to end it. Imagine a future – ten years from now, or twenty years from now – when the United States of America is still holding people who have been charged with no crime on a piece of land that is not a part of our country. Look at the current situation, where we are force-feeding detainees who are holding a hunger strike. Is that who we are? Is that something that our Founders foresaw? Is that the America we want to leave to our children?
Obama on U.S. Using Drones On Americans:
Here are some notable quotes from President Obama on his standards for drone strikes, which are more extensive and acceptable than earlier practices, but still gives the government the right to assassinate a U.S. citizen without a trial, a long-standing controversy of drone attacks.
-“Drone strikes are a necessary evil, but one that must be used with more temperance as the United States’ security situation evolves,” President Barack Obama said Thursday.
-“…And yet, as our fight enters a new phase, America’s legitimate claim of self-defense cannot be the end of the discussion. To say a military tactic is legal, or even effective, is not to say it is wise or moral in every instance. For the same human progress that gives us the technology to strike half a world away also demands the discipline to constrain that power — or risk abusing it. And that’s why, over the last four years, my administration has worked vigorously to establish a framework that governs our use of force against terrorists –- insisting upon clear guidelines, oversight and accountability that is now codified in Presidential Policy Guidance that I signed yesterday.”
-“America does not take strikes to punish individuals; we act against terrorists who pose a continuing and imminent threat to the American people, and when there are no other governments capable of effectively addressing the threat. And before any strike is taken, there must be near-certainty that no civilians will be killed or injured — the highest standard we can set.”
-“When a U.S. citizen goes abroad to wage war against America — and is actively plotting to kill U.S. citizens; and when neither the United States, nor our partners are in a position to capture him before he carries out a plot — his citizenship should no more serve as a shield than a sniper shooting down on an innocent crowd should be protected from a SWAT team,” Obama said.”
The Heckler:
During all this talk about Gitmo, terrorism and human rights, President Obama was interrupted by a heckler in the crowd…which is surprising because this almost never happens.
The woman is being identified as Code Pink’s Medea Benjamin and if you watch the video below, you’ll see that she was maaaad:
Benjamin began shouting just after Obama began remarks on the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The President repeatedly asked Benjamin if he could finish his remarks, at one point pausing to let her finish yelling.
“I’m willing to cut that young lady interrupting me some slack, because it’s worth being passionate about,” Obama said.
He even went off script to address the heckler.
“The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to,” Obama said.
Ahhhh…freedom of speech.
To read the rest of the President’s remarks, click here.
