President Barack Obama forcefully declared his support Friday for US civilian trials of Guantanamo detainees and pledged to overturn language in a sweeping defence bill that would effectively block such trials from happening soon.
"The prosecution of terrorists in federal court is a powerful tool in our efforts to protect the nation and must be among the options available to us," the president said. "Any attempt to deprive the executive branch of that tool undermines our nation's counterterrorism efforts and has the potential to harm our national security.
Obama made the comments even while signing the legislation, which also allocates money for a wide range of military and national security programs the president said were too important to dispense with. The law bans the use of Defence Department money to transfer terror suspects from the US Navy's prison at its naval base in Cuba to the United States for trial in civilian courts.
That effectively prevents any such transfer from happening during the period covered by the legislation, the 2011 fiscal year, which ends September 30. The language reflects deep misgivings in Congress about Guantanamo detainees being tried on US soil. The first Guantanamo detainee tried in federal court was acquitted in November on all but one of more than 280 charges.
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