WASHINGTON
President of the United States Barrack Obama said on Thursday the US is in war with Al Qaeda and Taliban and affiliated powers, not with Islam.
In his speech at the National Defense University in the US capital Washington D.C., President Obama outlined the changes in US policy of counterterrorism ranging from the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba to unmanned drones.
Obama said "America is at a crossroads" in the fight against terrorism, stating "The US is still threatened by terrorists, but the threat has shifted and evolved from the one that came to our shores on September 11, 2001."
"From our use of drones to the detention of terrorist suspects, the decisions we are making now will define the type of nation -- and world -- that we leave to our children," Obama said.
His counterterrorism approach, as he stressed, focused on Al Qaeda and Taliban as well as their affiliates.
"The terrorism we face has been fueled with a certain ideology, the belief that Islam is incompatible with the US and the West. The US is not in war with Islam but with Al Qaeda and Taliban and their affiliates. This ideology is also rejected by most Muslims, the frequent victims of terrorist attacks, " told Obama.
Referring to the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention, Obama said the only solution is closing the facility as there are several legal problems such as the transfer of prisoners and the high expenditures.
"The original premise for opening Gitmo -- that detainees would not be able to challenge their detention -- was found unconstitutional five years ago," he said. "In the meantime, Gitmo has become a symbol around the world for an America that flouts the rule of law," he added.
Obama previously made efforts to close Guantanamo in his first term, however the U.S. Congress imposed restrictions on the transfer of detainees from the prison and made the closure impractical.
