President Obama signed a wide-ranging defense bill today despite having serious reservations about certain detention measures in it.
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The provisions in the bill that troubled Obama, which he once threatened to veto, dealt with detention regulation, interrogation and the prosecution of suspected terrorists.
“Moving forward, my administration will interpret and implement the provisions described below in a manner that best preserves the flexibility on which our safety depends and upholds the values on which this country was founded,” Obama said in a signing statement.
The bill comes after several months of deliberation on how captured terrorists would be handled without violating American consitutional rights.
Obama agreed to signing the bill after a change was made to a proposed provision that would deny U.S. citizens suspected of terrorism the right to trial and could have subjected them to indefinite detention.
“My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens,” Obama said in the signing statement. “Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.”
The new law will also require military custody for any suspect who is a member of a terrorist organization and planning an attack on U.S. soil or against any of our allies.
Read more at the New York Post.
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