Obama targets Trump in final speech on terror fight

[caption id="attachment_330606" align="alignnone" width="4532"] US President Barack Obama holds a press conference at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague on March 25, 2014 at the end of the Nuclear Security Summit (NSS). Thirty-five countries committed to bolstering nuclear security, backing a global drive spearheaded by US President Barack Obama to prevent dangerous materials falling into the hands of terrorists. AFP PHOTO/ANP/ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN
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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama delivers his final address on the fight against terrorism Tuesday, in a speech aimed at his successor who has not yet publicly outlined his own anti-terror strategy.

Speaking from MacDill Air Force Base -- the Florida headquarters of the Special Forces Command and CENTCOM, command for the US military in the Middle East -- Obama will give a rundown of operations in places like Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria during his two terms in office.

Obama will touch upon his failed bid to close the Guantanamo military prison in Cuba and his continued strong opposition to the use of torture -- positions greeted with scorn by President-elect Donald Trump during the campaign.

Obama, who ordered the successful raid against Al-Qaeda leader Osama

bin Laden in 2011, also intends to underscore the "complexity" of the fight against terror, according to top advisor Ben Rhodes.

"That's something you can only experience as president," Rhodes said, adding it will be crucial for the future US administration to precisely understand the threat, maintain strong relations with allies and pair military action with clear diplomacy.

In particular, Rhodes stressed, it is necessary to keep in mind "who we are as a country".

Trump, who has pledged to upend his predecessor's entire agenda including foreign and security policy, takes over in the White House in just over six weeks.

On the campaign trail he pledged to restore waterboarding -- a form of simulated drowning widely regarded as torture -- and permit "far, far worse".

Obama, in contrast, banned extreme CIA interrogation techniques used on terror detainees as soon as he took office.

He has long argued that such practices are ineffective, violate American values and hand militants a potent recruiting tool for groups like the Islamic State (IS).

The US president also plans to defend his warfare tactics against IS militants in Iraq and Syria: no ground troops but military support for local security forces, and an intense air campaign with support from an international coalition.

- Cigarettes over waterboarding -

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Since his election, Trump seems to be to modifying his views on waterboarding -- a change that may reflect the influence of his nominee to head the Pentagon, retired marine general James Mattis.

Mattis appears to have convinced Trump to rethink his stance on torture, after reportedly telling the real estate mogul that he is unconvinced about its effectiveness during interrogations.

"He said, 'I've never found it to be useful'," Trump told the New York Times in a wide-ranging interview with reporters and senior editors last month.

Mattis told Trump that winning a prisoner's trust is a far more    effective way of prying information from him.

'"Give me a pack of cigarettes and a couple of beers and I'll do better,"' Trump told staff members at The Times, recounting what the general had told him.

Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2016