Doubt Raised on Gitmo Closing Date

Wall Street Journal ^ | AUGUST 7, 2009 | By SIOBHAN GORMAN and EVAN PEREZ

[Jet Jaguar]

The Obama administration's counterterrorism chief appeared to provide the first indication the administration may not make its January deadline for closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay in remarks Thursday that aimed to outline a new path for combating terrorism.

The administration is folding measures to combat terrorists into its broader effort to engage other countries and improve social conditions overseas, said John Brennan, the president's senior counterterrorism adviser who also served as a senior intelligence official during the Bush administration.

In defense of the Obama administration's national-security policies, which have come under fire from the left and right, Mr. Brennan said the Obama administration is neither totally discarding nor fully embracing the policies of Mr. Bush.

In addition to stepping up counterterror and aid operations in Afghanistan and Pakistan, the president has approved "a number of actions and initiatives" against al Qaeda and encouraged his staff "to be even more aggressive," Mr. Brennan said. He didn't provide specifics, however, and an aide said after the speech at the Center for Strategic and International Studies that the details are classified.

Mr. Brennan rejected the Bush administration's use of the terms "global war on terror" and "jihadist." Such terms are dangerous and counterproductive, he said, because they play into al Qaeda's characterization of the U.S. as waging war against Islam. The Obama administration, he said, is waging a "war against al Qaeda."

Juan Zarate, who held a similar post to Mr. Brennan's in the Bush administration, and who attended the speech, said Mr. Brennan said little to suggest a major policy shift from the Bush era. The speech was more about a change in tone, he said.

[Jet Jaguar]

Ping.

[Nachum]

Thanks for the heads up Jet Jaguar

The list, ping

[annieokie]

I had a thought today, JMO, that O wanted Gitmo closed and all prisinors placed in the U.S. to be tried in U.S. courts. Now if that should happen, he could pardon all of his muslem brothers before he leaves office.