In an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes, President-elect Obama put claims to rest that he would not overhaul Bush administration intelligence policies by announcing his intention to close the Guantanamo Bay prison, where enemies of the state are often held and subjected to highly contested practices like waterboarding.
In an interview
with CBS's 60 Minutes. CBS's Steve Kroft asked if Obama planned "to
take early action" on changing interrogation methods and shutting the
detention camp at Guantanamo Bay. "Yes," Obama replied unambiguously,
"I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will
follow through on that. 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 went on to answer a series of other questions about finding Osama
Bin Laden, how to handle the auto industry bailout and shifting away
from foreign oil, and how close he is to setting up his cabinet.
Kroft: Where does capturing or killing Osama bin Laden fall?
Mr. Obama: I think it is a top priority for us to stamp out
al Qaeda once and for all. And I think 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 US targets.
Kroft: How close are you to settling on a cabinet?
Mr. Obama: Well, I think that I've got a pretty good idea of what I'd like to see. But it takes some time to work those things through.
Kroft: You have a situation right now where you have General Motors, which is in dire straits.
Mr. Obama: Yeah.
Kroft: May run out of cash by the end of the year, maybe by
the end of certainly, if we believe what we read in the papers, by the
time you take office.
Mr. Obama: Yeah. Well, let's see how this thing plays itself
out. For the auto industry to completely collapse would be a disaster
in this kind of environment, not just for individual families but the
repercussions across the economy would be dire. So it's my belief that
we need to provide assistance to the auto industry. But I think that it
can't be a blank check.
So my hope is that over the course of the next week, between the
White House and Congress, the discussions are shaped around providing
assistance but making sure that that assistance is conditioned on
labor, management, suppliers, lenders, all the stakeholders coming
together with a plan what does a sustainable U.S. auto industry look
like? So that we are creating a bridge loan to somewhere as opposed to
a bridge loan to nowhere. And that's, I think, what you haven't yet
seen. That's something that I think we're gonna have to come up with.
Read the full transcript:
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