Transcripts for CNN CNN Newsroom 20130523 17:35:45 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
difference between this and the previous administration s counterterrorism policy? is that the severest, stark contrast you ve seen? reporter: it is, and i think you re right to point that out. that was one of the goals of this speech, to really move away from this term, this idea of the war on terror. senior administration officials saying that from their perspective, from where they sit, they believe that is too broad, too amorphous. the president, today, aimed to really narrow the focus. you heard him make the argument that this is really a turning point in terms of counterterrorism. and he made the point that al qaeda is weakened. we re drawing down the war in afghanistan. i have to tell you, i was just speaking to congressman peter king who made the point that a lot of people don t think that al qaeda has been lincolned. a lot of people like representative king believe it is actually stronger than ever. that s where he s going to get some pushback, particularly on the issue of l
believes there have been and continue to be legitimate questions asked. he is very concerned about the need to put an architecture in place that governs counterterrorism policy for now and into the future. reporter: drone strikes are actually down that sharply fromr peak many 2010, and the president s policy directive is expected to shift control more to the military. the president s also expected to address the war on terror generally saying that al-qaeda s weakened but that there are other dangers from copycat groups and home grown terrorists. his critics think the misrepresentation of the benghazi consulate attack grew out of an attempt to exaggerate al-qaeda s weaknesses. jenna: interesting. one of the other things the president s talked a lot about is guantanamo bay. what about gitmo, wendell? reporter: we expect the president will reaffirm his commitment to close the facility, but it s hard to see how he ll deliver. more than half the 86 detainees
going on. ben, there s also the question, i mean i think when we talk about sort of, how much we are at the beginning of this conversationing or maybe in the middle as far as u.s. counterterrorism policy post 9/11, one of the reasons i think this conversation hasn t happened is because of the sort of political realities, which is to say republicans have had a very hard time figuring out their position on this, right? i mean they don t, when forced to articulate a counterterrorism strategy that s measurably different from the president s, they ve been between a rock and a hard place. the president has had a fairly aggressive counterterrorism policy in line with republican hawkish goals and at the same time there are civil liberties infringements which have stoked the ire of a lot on the far right like rand paul, we know that senator john mccain is pleased the drone strike program is being turned over to the pentagon and being taken outs of the hands of the c.i.a. and yet yesterday he
here s the short of it. the ninth circuit, the federal court that will ultimately decide if she does face death has reversed 13 cases, 13, where the defense attorney didn t call mitigation witnesses during the sentencing phase. this is tactical planned and disgusting. for the appeal. thank you so much, trial attorney, former prosecutor, wendy murphy, thank you, have a good thursday. that wraps up things for me. thomas is back here tomorrow, on his way back from oklahoma reporting live. now alex wagner is up next, what have you got for us? pivot points, we ll preview the president s major speech this afternoon on u.s. counterterrorism policy, including targeted drone strikes and the prison at guantanamo bay, the new york times mark ma zeti, jarnd berstein and richard wolffe join the conversation. and immigration tug of war. and which naysayers are willing to play political roulette? plus actor penn badgley will be