WASHINGTON (AlArabiya.net, AFP)
President-elect Barack Obama vowed to pull troops out of Iraq, crush al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and shut down the Guantanamo Bay camp as part of a dramatic foreign policy break with George W. Bush.
In his first major post-election interview, with CBS program "60 Minutes," the Democrat signaled no retreat from expansive campaign promises that have pleased U.S. allies, even while adding little detail to how he will fulfill them.
Repairing the stricken U.S. economy will be priority number one, and at least one Republican will fill his cabinet, Obama said in the broad-ranging interview that aired Sunday.
Obama said that in congress, his first legislative priority was getting another stimulus package passed to prop up the enfeebled economy if Democrats in the outgoing legislature fail to overcome Republican opposition.
" "I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture” " President-Elect Obama Obama also pledged to make short work of tackling offshoots of Bush's "war on terror" -- the internment camp operated by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and harsh interrogations of captured terror suspects.
"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," the president-elect said.
"I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm going to make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world," Obama added.
But he did not elaborate on where the Guantanamo prisoners would be taken, whether they would be transferred to civilian custody in the United States itself, put on trial, or released.
Redeploying troops out of Iraq or shutting down Guantanamo could be done effectively by decree using Obama's presidential prerogatives, and the president-elect is examining a slew of "executive orders" signed by Bush.
As soon as he succeeds Bush on Jan. 20, Obama said, "I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my national security apparatus, and we will start executing a plan that draws down our troops" from Iraq. |
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Qaeda is top priority On the campaign trail, Obama vowed to pull one or two combat brigades out of Iraq every month until after 16 months, only a residual security force of unspecified size remains. Some of those brigades would head to Afghanistan.
He told CBS that from his inauguration, it is “a top priority to stamp out al-Qaeda once and for all,” and that “capturing or killing bin Laden is a critical aspect of stamping out al-Qaeda.”
”He is not just a symbol, he's also the operational leader of an organization that is planning attacks against U.S. targets,” Obama said.
Redeploying troops out of Iraq or shutting down Guantanamo could be done effectively by decree using Obama's presidential prerogatives, and the president-elect is examining a slew of "executive orders" signed by Bush. |
