InBrief

President Obama yesterday delivered a speech on the subject of his administration's attempts to close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Andrew Sullivan, writing in the Atlantic Monthly, described it as "a thoughtful speech that deserves our time and reflection...[B]y his sobriety and balance, care and precision, Obama has sketched a way forward that is a function of both war and law." President Obama said: There is also no question that Guantanamo set back the moral authority that is America's strongest currency in the world.� Instead of building a durable framework for the struggle against al Qaeda that drew upon our deeply held values and traditions, our government was defending positions that undermined the rule of law.� In fact, part of the rationale for establishing Guantanamo in the first place was the misplaced notion that a prison there would be beyond the law -- a proposition that the Supreme Court soundly rejected.� Meanwhile, instead of serving as a tool to counter terrorism, Guantanamo became a symbol that helped al Qaeda recruit terrorists to its cause.� Indeed, the existence of Guantanamo likely created more terrorists around the world than it ever detained. View the speech on the White House web site. 22 May 2009