UK mom calms man with blood-soaked knife after suspected deadly terror attack
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A mother who confronted a man suspected of killing a British soldier yesterday says she did so in an “act of instinct.”
LONDON – A mother-of-two who confronted a blood-soaked, knife-carrying man in the moments after what is suspected to be the ideologically motivated murder of a British soldier said she wanted to protect onlookers.
Ingrid Loyau-Kennett, 48, jumped off the bus she was riding in southeast London Wednesday when she saw the man slumped on the sidewalk next to a crashed car.
British police said on Thursday that officers from London’s counter-terrorism unit were heading up the investigation. Eyewitness reports suggest the killing may have been carried out as a protest against British military actions in Muslim countries based on what they say they heard from the alleged attackers.
Loyau-Kennett had intended to offer first aid, but instead found herself standing in the aftermath of the horrific killing of a soldier in broad daylight in Woolwich, London.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence named the victim as Lee Rigby, a 25-year-old drummer with the Second Battalion, Royal Regiment of Fusiliers who was father of a two-year-old boy. and who had served in Afghanistan. Floral tributes were laid outside the military barracks near the scene.
“I saw a man on the road obviously injured and a car badly crashed,” she told U.K. channel ITV on Thursday. “So I assumed it was a road accident.”
However, she says when she got closer she saw a man covered in blood and carrying a butcher’s knife. She also says she saw a handgun.
“I thought ‘what the heck has happened there?’” she said.
“He was obviously a bit excited and the thing was to talk to him,” Loyau-Kennett said, adding that her instinct was to keep the suspected attacker calm in order to protect the crowd that was beginning to gather.
ITV News
A suspect, left, talks to the camera immediately after Wednesday’s attack.
Pictures at the scene show her, hands in pockets, speaking apparently calmly to a man holding a long knife.
Loyau-Kennett, from Cornwall, England, found it “daunting” to continue to engage the blood-soaked man as more bystanders appeared, in particular mothers with their children.
“There were more and more mothers with children coming by so it was more and more important that I talk to him,” she said.
British Prime Minister David Cameron paid tribute to her Thursday, saying she was “brave” as he pledged that U.K. investigators “will not rest until we know every single detail of what happened and we’ve brought all of those responsible to justice.”
Speaking on the steps of 10 Downing Street, he said: “This country will be absolutely resolute in its stand against violent extremism and terror. We will never give in to terror.”
“One of the best ways of defeating terrorism is to go about our normal lives. And that is what we shall all do.”
A second alleged attacker, his hands covered in blood and holding a meat cleaver, was captured on video — obtained exclusively by NBC News’s U.K. news partner, ITV News — telling passers-by: “By Allah we swear by the almighty Allah and we will never stop fighting you until you leave us alone.”
Eyewitnesses described the victim of the attack as being chopped up like a “piece of meat.”
Two suspects allegedly brutally murdered a young soldier in London Monday with large knives as terrified witnesses looked on. Top British security officials are calling the murder a terrorist attack. NBC’s Michelle Kosinski reports.
The witnesses said two men were later shot by officers. The injured duo were taken to a hospital where they were later arrested in connection with the case.
NBC News understands the two suspects have been investigated by British security services in the past.
Two further arrests were made Thursday, Britain’s Counter Terrorism Command announced. A 29-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were taken into custody on suspicion of conspiracy to commit murder.
The Muslim Council of Great Britain on Wednesday condemned the attack, which it said would “heighten tensions on the streets of the United Kingdom.”
“This is a truly barbaric act that has no basis in Islam and we condemn this unreservedly,” it said. “Our thoughts are with the victim and his family.”
Those tensions were underlined late Wednesday when a small number of members of the anti-immigrant English Defence League extremist group were involved in minor scuffles with police in Woolwich.
In his statement to reporters on Thursday, Cameron said: “This was not just an attack on Britain – and on our British way of life – it was also a betrayal of Islam – and of the Muslim communities who give so much to our country. There is nothing in Islam that justifies this truly dreadful act.”
However, on its English-language media Twitter feed, al Qaeda-linked Africa terror group al-Shabab said: “What Cameron describes as a sickening attack is what innocent Muslim woman and children are subjected to every day by British troops.”
London Mayor Boris Johnson said it was “completely wrong” to blame the killing on Islam, saying the fault lies with the “warped and deluded” mindset of the people responsible. He said it was “equally wrong” to try to draw any link between the incident and British foreign policy.
He also called on the Londoners to send a message of defiance by carrying on “as normal” in the wake of the horrific attack.
Johnson was speaking to reporters after cycling to a meeting of the British government’s emergency response committee, Cobra.
President Obama released a statement on the attack Thursday, condemning it “in the strongest terms.”
“The United States stands resolute with the United Kingdom, our ally and friend, against violent extremism and terror. There can be absolutely no justification for such acts, and our thoughts and prayers are with the family of the victim, the police and security services responding to this horrific act and the communities they serve, and the British people,” the president said in the statement.
“Our special relationship with the United Kingdom is especially important during times of trial.”
NBC News’ Keir Simmons and Rohit Kachroo and ITV News’ Darren Burn contributed to this report.
Related:
PhotoBlog: Britons react with horror and anger to London attack
‘Leave our lands’: Man knifed to death in suspected London terror attack
This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 7:23 AM EDT
@ May 23, 2013
One child missing, one killed in Minnesota field trip landslide
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Jim Mone / AP
Rescue personnel gather near an entrance to Lilydale Regional Park above the Mississippi River during a suspension of search efforts to find a fourth child missing after a landslide swept over a group of children on a fourth grade field trip Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in St. Paul, Minn.
Authorities recovered the body of a Minnesota child who went missing after a gravel slide swept several members of an elementary school class on a school fossil-hunting trip into a pit, bringing the death toll in the incident to two.
Crews recovered the boy’s body on Thursday after bad weather briefly let up, St. Paul Assistant Fire Chief Jim Smith said, according to NBC News affiliate KARE.
The boy’s family had been notified, Smith said.
The fourth-graders from a St. Louis Park elementary school were hiking in Lilydale Regional Park on Wednesday when a steep slope soaked by rain gave way, authorities have said. Two trapped children were dug out by firefighters who clawed away gravel with their hands and shovels, they said.
“It appears they were walking along and the ground, after the rain we’ve had, was so soft and it gave way and they fell into what became a hole and the earth came on top of them,” St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said at a news conference, according to KARE.
Scott Takushi / AP
An emergency worker attends to a person on a stretcher, being evacuated out of a rockslide site by helicopter, on the West Side of St. Paul, Wednesday, May 22, 2013.
One of the children pulled from the pit later died, and has not yet been identified by authorities. One child injured in the slide has been released from the hospital and another remains in serious condition, officials said on Thursday.
“The slide had fallen down on top of them,” Zaccard said. “One was partially buried, one was completely buried.”
The search for the missing student was suspended overnight as rescuers battled worsening conditions.
“Water is flowing right into the hole making it extremely dangerous for rescuers to work anymore,” Zaccard said. “We are working with our partners in Parks and Public Works to make the scene safe for what’s become a recovery effort for what might be a fourth victim.”
A man who identified himself as the missing child’s uncle said the student “liked geology,” according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
“Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the children and to our first responders who continue to deal with the situation as it develops,” said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.
Classes went on at Peter Hobart Elementary, where the students were from, on Thursday, district officials told KARE
“This is an incredibly sad time for our schools and our entire school community. Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and everyone touched by today’s accident,” St. Louis Park Public Schools Superintendent Debra Bowers said in a statement. “We, like everyone else, want to understand how this tragedy occurred, but today we ask for your continued thoughts and prayers for everyone involved.”
@ May 23, 2013
Slain London soldier was ‘loving father’ who served in Afghanistan
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Ministry of Defence
Drummer Lee Rigby was identified Thursday as the soldier killed in London in a suspected terror attack on Wednesday.
The British soldier brutally killed in London in a suspected terror attack was a drummer in a military band who had served in Afghanistan, officials said on Thursday.
Lee Rigby, 25, known as “Riggers” to his friends, was killed in broad daylight on Wednesday as he walked in Woolwich, South London, near an army barracks.
Two suspects allegedly brutally murdered a young soldier in London Monday with large knives as terrified witnesses looked on. Top British security officials are calling the murder a terrorist attack. NBC’s Michelle Kosinski reports.
In a statement, the U.K. Ministry of Defence said Rigby, who served with the 2nd Battalion The Royal Regiment of Fusiliers, was “a loving father” to his two-year-old son Jack.
“An extremely popular and witty soldier, Drummer Rigby was a larger than life personality within the Corps of Drums and was well known, liked and respected across the Second Fusiliers,” the statement said.
“He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. The Regiment’s thoughts and prayers are with his family during this extremely difficult time,” it added. “Once a Fusilier, always a Fusilier.”
The statement said Rigby was born in Manchester, England and had joined the army in 2006.
It said he had been deployed on operation in Helmand province, Afghanistan, in April 2009, “where he served as a member of the Fire Support Group in Patrol Base Woqab.”
Rigby had previously helped guard the U.K.’s royal palaces. “He was an integral member of the Corps of Drums throughout the Battalion’s time on public duties, the highlight of which was being a part of the Household Division’s Beating the Retreat – a real honour for a line infantry Corps of Drums,” the statement said.
A mother who confronted a man suspected of killing a British soldier yesterday says she did so in an “act of instinct.”
He had also served with his unit in Cyprus and Germany. In 2011, Rigby began a recruiting post in London and assisted with duties at the Tower of London.
The commanding officer of the Second Fusiliers, Lieutenant Colonel Jim Taylor, said Rigby was “a dedicated and professional soldier.”
“Larger than life, he was at the heart of our Corps of Drums. An experienced and talented side drummer and machine gunner, he was a true warrior and served with distinction in Afghanistan, Germany and Cyprus,” he said.
His platoon commander from 2010 to 2011, Captain Alan Williamson said “Riggers” was a “cheeky and humorous man, always there with a joke to brighten the mood.”
Related:
- UK mom calms man with blood-soaked knife after suspected deadly terror attack
- PhotoBlog: Britons react with horror and anger to London attack
- ‘Leave our lands’: Man knifed to death in suspected London terror attack
@ May 23, 2013
Obama announces narrower drone strike strategy
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In a major address Thursday President Barack Obama sought to reframe his counterterrorism strategy saying that “America is at a crossroads.”
“We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us, mindful of James Madison’s warning that ‘No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.’ Neither I, nor any president, can promise the total defeat of terror,” he declared in a speech at the National Defense University in Washington.
As part of that effort, the president announced more narrow parameters for the use of drones to kill terrorists overseas and limit collateral casualties and he reiterated his pledge to renew efforts to persuade Congress to agree to close the Guantanamo detention site in Cuba where 110 terrorist suspects are being held.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President Barack Obama talks about national security, Thursday, May 23, 2013, at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington.
He said he would appoint a new envoy at the State Department and an official at the Defense Department who will attempt to negotiate transfers of Guantanamo detainees to other countries. And he said he is lifting the moratorium on some detainee transfers.
He said, “We must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’ – but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America. In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries.”
He said that much had changed since the attacks on Sept 11, 2001. “The threat today is more diffuse, with Al Qaeda’s affiliates in the Arabian Peninsula – AQAP -the most active in plotting against our homeland. While none of AQAP’s efforts approach the scale of 9/11, they have continued to plot acts of terror, like the attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009.”
So he said, “As we shape our response, we have to recognize that the scale of this threat closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11.”
He said that the current threat is often from “deranged or alienated individuals – often U.S. citizens or legal residents – can do enormous damage, particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad. That pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood, and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.”
He also said he is narrowing the cases in which his administration will use remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, to kill suspected al Qaida terrorists.
In discussing his drone strategy he expressed remorse over the innocent people who had been killed. “It is a hard fact that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, a risk that exists in all wars. For the families of those civilians, no words or legal construct can justify their loss. For me, and those in my chain of command, these deaths will haunt us as long as we live, just as we are haunted by the civilian casualties that have occurred through conventional fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
On Guantanamo, Obama said he is lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen that he imposed in 2010 after it was revealed that Detroit “underwear bomber” Umar Farouq Abdulmuttalab was trained in Yemen.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Demonstrators stand near a mock drone at the gates of Fort McNair where President Barack Obama will speak at the National Defense University in Washington May 23, 2013.
The defense spending bill Obama signed into law last year prohibits any transfers to the United States of any detainee at Guantanamo who was held there on or before Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama became president.
And the law sets a very high legal bar for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to transfer a detainee to his country of origin, or to any other foreign country.
This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 2:00 PM EDT
@ May 23, 2013
Lawmakers push new bill to crack down on military sexual assault
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The sponsor of a new bill to combat sexual assault in the military pledged Thursday that her legislation would ensure that “never again will a victim have to salute an assaulter.”
The effort, led by Sen. Claire McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, would require a dismissal or a dishonorable discharge for a member of the military found guilty of rape or sexual assault.
Senators Susan Collins and Claire McCaskill announce a bipartisan piece of legislation aimed at reducing sexual assaults in the U.S. military.
The new legislation – the second bill aimed at addressing sexual assault in the military this month – comes just the day after the Army disclosed that the commander of Fort Jackson, S.C., is being investigated for charges including adultery and a physical altercation.
The incident is just the latest in a string of military sexual misconduct scandals, including two separate cases of men charged with dealing with sexual assault cases being involved in crimes against women.
While the bill would also both prohibit commanders from nullifying or changing a sexual assault conviction, it would not require a charge of sexual assault to be handled outside the chain of command, a provision included in a competing measure sponsored by Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.
Proponents of McCaskill’s measure fear that Gillibrand’s legislation may face too much opposition from the Pentagon to pass through Congress.
“The important thing is to try to get as many of us to agree so we don’t end up with a party line vote,” McCaskill said. ”I am tired of trying to legislate around the gridlock in Congress.”
Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican who is a cosponsor of both bills, said that action is necessary to help protect women in the armed services.
“What is not acceptable is for us to take half measures, or to do nothing, or pass something that cannot become law,” she said.
They aim to have the measure included in the annual Defense Authorization Act.
Kasie Hunt contributed to this report.
This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 12:26 PM EDT
@ May 23, 2013
Two children killed in Minnesota field trip landslide
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Jim Mone / AP
Rescue personnel gather near an entrance to Lilydale Regional Park above the Mississippi River during a suspension of search efforts to find a fourth child missing after a landslide swept over a group of children on a fourth grade field trip Wednesday, May 22, 2013, in St. Paul, Minn.
Authorities recovered the body of a Minnesota child who went missing after a gravel slide swept several members of an elementary school class on a school fossil-hunting trip into a pit, bringing the death toll in the incident to two.
Crews recovered the boy’s body on Thursday after bad weather briefly let up, St. Paul Assistant Fire Chief Jim Smith said, according to NBC News affiliate KARE.
The boy’s family had been notified, Smith said.
The fourth-graders from a St. Louis Park elementary school were hiking in Lilydale Regional Park on Wednesday when a steep slope soaked by rain gave way, authorities have said. Two trapped children were dug out by firefighters who clawed away gravel with their hands and shovels, they said.
“It appears they were walking along and the ground, after the rain we’ve had, was so soft and it gave way and they fell into what became a hole and the earth came on top of them,” St. Paul Fire Marshal Steve Zaccard said at a news conference, according to KARE.
Scott Takushi / AP
An emergency worker attends to a person on a stretcher, being evacuated out of a rockslide site by helicopter, on the West Side of St. Paul, Wednesday, May 22, 2013.
One of the children pulled from the pit later died, and has not yet been identified by authorities. One child injured in the slide has been released from the hospital and another remains in serious condition, officials said on Thursday.
“The slide had fallen down on top of them,” Zaccard said. “One was partially buried, one was completely buried.”
The search for the missing student was suspended overnight as rescuers battled worsening conditions.
“Water is flowing right into the hole making it extremely dangerous for rescuers to work anymore,” Zaccard said. “We are working with our partners in Parks and Public Works to make the scene safe for what’s become a recovery effort for what might be a fourth victim.”
A man who identified himself as the missing child’s uncle said the student “liked geology,” according to the Minnesota Star Tribune.
“Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the children and to our first responders who continue to deal with the situation as it develops,” said St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman.
Classes went on at Peter Hobart Elementary, where the students were from, on Thursday, district officials told KARE
“This is an incredibly sad time for our schools and our entire school community. Our hearts go out to the families, friends, and everyone touched by today’s accident,” St. Louis Park Public Schools Superintendent Debra Bowers said in a statement. “We, like everyone else, want to understand how this tragedy occurred, but today we ask for your continued thoughts and prayers for everyone involved.”
@ May 23, 2013
Activists rally – and pray – as Boy Scouts vote on gays
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Lm Otero / AP
Terri Hall, left, of San Antonio, Texas, stands with her son Nathaniel Hall, 8, as they rally near where the Boy Scouts of America are holding their annual meeting.
As 1,400 Boy Scouts of America delegates gathered Thursday to vote on a proposal to end the organization’s longstanding ban on gay youth, activists on both sides of the contentious issue ramped up the pressure.
A group opposed to allowing gay Scouts posted a call to prayer on its Facebook page – a sign of how large religion looms over the vote.
“Would you join us in a time of solemn prayer for our country and for the future of America’s youth? Please pray that He has mercy on the BSA and all of us,” read the post from On My Honor.
On Wednesday, the day before the vote, those in favor of ending the ban held a meeting across the street from the Boy Scouts’ annual conference in Grapevine, Texas.
“[T]his entire conversation comes down to one of the core values of leadership that is so often discussed but so difficult to actually execute: treating others the way we want to be treated,” Zach Wahls, a prominent activist against the ban, said in prepared remarks. “There is nothing Scout-like about exclusion of other people, and there is nothing Scout-like about putting your own religious beliefs before someone else’s.”
The ban on gay Scouts has been the subject of much soul-searching in the century-old organization – from local troops and councils to online petitions to national board meetings. The dispute was even heard by the Supreme Court, which said 13 years ago that as a private membership organization the BSA was free to decide who it would admit.
Last summer, the Boy Scouts reaffirmed their anti-gay policy after a two-year examination by a committee. Since then, some local chapters have been pushing for a reconsideration, and now the organization is considering a proposal that would end the ban on gay Scouts but still bar gay adult leaders.
More than 70 percent of Boy Scout units are sponsored by religious groups, and this compromise proposal has split them. One of the Southern Baptist Church leaders, Dr. Frank Page, last week implored the Boy Scouts not to change the policy.
But The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints – the BSA’s biggest charter partner – has given tacit endorsement to the plan; the National Catholic Council on Scouting has yet to take a position.Perhaps one of the most important voices, BSA President Wayne Perry, on Wednesday wrote an op-ed in USA TODAY supporting the inclusion of gay boys.
“The BSA’s executive committee unanimously presented this resolution because it stays true to Scouting’s mission and remains focused on kids,” Perry wrote. “No matter what your opinion is on this issue, America needs Scouting, and our policies must be based on what is in the best interest of our nation’s children.”
The stakes are huge for the BSA, which boasts nearly 3 million youth participants. If the new membership guidelines are approved, it could drive some, perhaps many, to leave.
Rusty Tisdale, assistant Scoutmaster for a troop in Ellisville, Miss., hopes there is a local option that would allow the decision on gay members to be made at the troop level. Otherwise, he will pull his kids.
“I’m not happy as a parent,” Tisdale emailed to NBC News. “The gay activist isn’t happy and will not be until homosexuals can be leaders, etc. So there will be more pressure, and more fighting, And more acquiescence. No thanks.”
“There are other activities for my kids to do,” he added. “There are other organizations that I can support with my time and money.”
If you are a current or former member of the Boy Scouts and would like to share your thoughts on how your troop, pack or council is handling the possibility of a change in the membership policy, you can email the reporter at miranda.leitsinger@msnbc.com. We may use some comments for a follow-up story, so please specify if your remarks can be used and provide your name, hometown, age, Boy Scout affiliation and a phone number.
Related:
This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 1:11 PM EDT
@ May 23, 2013
Obama announces reframing of terrorism policy
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In a major address Thursday President Barack Obama sought to reframe his counterterrorism strategy saying that “America is at a crossroads.”
“We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us, mindful of James Madison’s warning that ‘No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.’ Neither I, nor any president, can promise the total defeat of terror,” he declared in a speech at the National Defense University in Washington.
As part of that effort, the president announced more narrow parameters for the use of drones to kill terrorists overseas and limit collateral casualties and he reiterated his pledge to renew efforts to persuade Congress to agree to close the Guantanamo detention site in Cuba where 110 terrorist suspects are being held.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President Barack Obama talks about national security, Thursday, May 23, 2013, at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington.
He said he would appoint a new envoy at the State Department and an official at the Defense Department who will attempt to negotiate transfers of Guantanamo detainees to other countries. And he said he is lifting the moratorium on some detainee transfers.
He said, “We must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’ – but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America. In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries.”
He said that much had changed since the attacks on Sept 11, 2001. “The threat today is more diffuse, with Al Qaeda’s affiliates in the Arabian Peninsula – AQAP -the most active in plotting against our homeland. While none of AQAP’s efforts approach the scale of 9/11, they have continued to plot acts of terror, like the attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009.”
So he said, “As we shape our response, we have to recognize that the scale of this threat closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11.”
He said that the current threat is often from “deranged or alienated individuals – often U.S. citizens or legal residents – can do enormous damage, particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad. That pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood, and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.”
He also said he is narrowing the cases in which his administration will use remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, to kill suspected al Qaida terrorists.
In discussing his drone strategy he expressed remorse over the innocent people who had been killed. “It is a hard fact that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, a risk that exists in all wars. For the families of those civilians, no words or legal construct can justify their loss. For me, and those in my chain of command, these deaths will haunt us as long as we live, just as we are haunted by the civilian casualties that have occurred through conventional fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
On Guantanamo, Obama said he is lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen that he imposed in 2010 after it was revealed that Detroit “underwear bomber” Umar Farouq Abdulmuttalab was trained in Yemen.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Demonstrators stand near a mock drone at the gates of Fort McNair where President Barack Obama will speak at the National Defense University in Washington May 23, 2013.
The defense spending bill Obama signed into law last year prohibits any transfers to the United States of any detainee at Guantanamo who was held there on or before Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama became president.
And the law sets a very high legal bar for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to transfer a detainee to his country of origin, or to any other foreign country.
This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 2:00 PM EDT
@ May 23, 2013
Obama reframes counterterrorism policy with new rules on drones
Posted in: US News | Comments (0)
In a major address Thursday President Barack Obama sought to reframe his counterterrorism strategy saying that “America is at a crossroads.”
“We must define the nature and scope of this struggle, or else it will define us, mindful of James Madison’s warning that ‘No nation could preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.’ Neither I, nor any president, can promise the total defeat of terror,” he declared in a speech at the National Defense University in Washington.
As part of that effort, the president announced more narrow parameters for the use of drones to kill terrorists overseas and limit collateral casualties and he reiterated his pledge to renew efforts to persuade Congress to agree to close the Guantanamo detention site in Cuba where 110 terrorist suspects are being held.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President Barack Obama talks about national security, Thursday, May 23, 2013, at the National Defense University at Fort McNair in Washington.
He said he would appoint a new envoy at the State Department and an official at the Defense Department who will attempt to negotiate transfers of Guantanamo detainees to other countries. And he said he is lifting the moratorium on some detainee transfers.
He said, “We must define our effort not as a boundless ‘global war on terror’ – but rather as a series of persistent, targeted efforts to dismantle specific networks of violent extremists that threaten America. In many cases, this will involve partnerships with other countries.”
He said that much had changed since the attacks on Sept 11, 2001. “The threat today is more diffuse, with Al Qaeda’s affiliates in the Arabian Peninsula – AQAP -the most active in plotting against our homeland. While none of AQAP’s efforts approach the scale of 9/11, they have continued to plot acts of terror, like the attempt to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day in 2009.”
So he said, “As we shape our response, we have to recognize that the scale of this threat closely resembles the types of attacks we faced before 9/11.”
He said that the current threat is often from “deranged or alienated individuals – often U.S. citizens or legal residents – can do enormous damage, particularly when inspired by larger notions of violent jihad. That pull towards extremism appears to have led to the shooting at Fort Hood, and the bombing of the Boston Marathon.”
He also said he is narrowing the cases in which his administration will use remotely piloted aircraft, or drones, to kill suspected al Qaida terrorists.
In discussing his drone strategy he expressed remorse over the innocent people who had been killed. “It is a hard fact that U.S. strikes have resulted in civilian casualties, a risk that exists in all wars. For the families of those civilians, no words or legal construct can justify their loss. For me, and those in my chain of command, these deaths will haunt us as long as we live, just as we are haunted by the civilian casualties that have occurred through conventional fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq.”
On Guantanamo, Obama said he is lifting the moratorium on detainee transfers to Yemen that he imposed in 2010 after it was revealed that Detroit “underwear bomber” Umar Farouq Abdulmuttalab was trained in Yemen.
Kevin Lamarque / Reuters
Demonstrators stand near a mock drone at the gates of Fort McNair where President Barack Obama will speak at the National Defense University in Washington May 23, 2013.
The defense spending bill Obama signed into law last year prohibits any transfers to the United States of any detainee at Guantanamo who was held there on or before Jan. 20, 2009, the day Obama became president.
And the law sets a very high legal bar for Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to transfer a detainee to his country of origin, or to any other foreign country.
This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 2:00 PM EDT
@ May 23, 2013
Heckler repeatedly interrupts Obama speech
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President Barack Obama was repeatedly interrupted by a heckler whose taunts slowed the delivery of a major national security speech in the Washington, D.C. area.
The unidentified heckler began shouting at the president toward the tail end of his highly-anticipated address, when he touched upon U.S. policy toward detainees suspected of terrorist acts.
A woman in the crowd yells at President Barack Obama during his address to the National Defense University on Thursday.
Obama was forced to pause three separate times and talk over the protester, interrupting the flow of the closing section of the speech at National Defense University.
“I’m about to address it ma’am, but you’ve got to let me speak,” Obama scolded the woman. “Why don’t you sit down and let me tell you exactly what I’d do.”
The antiwar group Code Pink, which often interrupts high-profile political events with vocal protests against U.S. foreign policy and national security strategy, said its founder Medea Benjamin was the person responsible for the interruption.
Though the president appeared somewhat irritated by the interruption, he said he was willing to cut the woman “some slack, because it’s worth being passionate about.”
He added after another interruption: “The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to. Obviously I do not agree with much of what she said. And obviously she wasn’t listening to me and much of what I said. But these are tough issues, and the suggestion that we can gloss over them is wrong.”
Thursday wasn’t the only instance in which Obama was interrupted during a high-profile speech. During remarks last year about immigration at the White House, a conservative reporter, Neil Munro, heckled the president with a question about the impact of his announcement that day.
This story was originally published on Thu May 23, 2013 3:06 PM EDT
@ May 23, 2013
