President Obama Announces New Strategy for War on Terror
Friday, May 24th, 2013May 24, 2013
Speaking at the National Defense University in Washington, D.C., President Barack Obama announced plans yesterday to wind down drone strikes, which have become controversial both at home and abroad. A drone is a pilotless aircraft or vessel directed by remote control. Authorization for such aerial attacks is to be shifted from the C.I.A. to the Defense Department with the imposition of higher standards for setting targets. President Obama also suggested establishing a secret court that would sign off on all future drone strikes.
The president called on Congress to revise the authorization of force passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in response to the changing nature of the war on terrorism. “Our systematic effort to dismantle terrorist organizations must continue,” the president noted. “But this war, like all wars, must end. That’s what history advises. That’s what our democracy demands.”
The president also outlined a series of steps he wants taken to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These include lifting a moratorium on moving a number of detainees to Yemen. The United States began holding suspected terrorists at Camp X-Ray, a detention center at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo, in 2002.
Additional World Book articles:
- Aircraft, Military
- Terrorism: America’s New Enemy
- Armed forces 2002 (a Back in Time article)