03/03/2009

U.S. Attorney General: Protecting our friends from terror is top priority

http://www/haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1068086.html

The new administration of U.S. President Barack Obama continued its close relations with the local Jewish community with U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder addressing the 2009 Jewish Council for Public Affairs Plenum in Washington, D.C., on Monday.

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is an American Jewish non-profit organization that addresses community relations.

Holder complimented his audience, saying "this is definitely my kind of audience. I just walked in and you all gave me a standing ovation. The question will be what will happen as I'm leaving."

"It's really good to be here among so many friends, people who I've worked with on a good number of projects over the years. And it's a pleasure to be among people who I hope will become new friends and colleagues as we face the many issues that this administration will have to confront over the years," said Holder.

"For more than 60 years, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs and its partner agencies have worked to build a more just society. But what's more, JCPA has played a vital role in promoting an interfaith policy dialogue, and I applaud the work done by the JCPA to further that dialogue, to engage the public in constructive interfaith discourse, and to always - to always seek justice. It's a special privilege for me to have the honor to lead the Department of Justice at this moment in its history," the attorney general continued.

Later, Holder spoke about challenges facing his own Department, and promised that "nothing is more important to me and to us at the Department of Justice than defending our nation, its citizens and our friends, from acts of terrorism and ensuring that our government abides by the letter and the spirit of our great Constitution. Now, some see and some have seen a tension between these two goals. I most emphatically do not."

Holder added that "there is no reason why we cannot wage an effective fight against those who have sworn to harm us or our allies while we respect our most honored constitutional traditions. We can never, and we will never, put the welfare of the American people at risk, but we can also never choose actions that we know will weaken the legal and moral fiber of our nation. The rule of law is not an obstacle to be overcome, but the very foundation of our nation. It is the rule of law that has always held us together despite our differences, while other nations have faltered. And it is the rule of law that has made the United States a beacon to the world, a nation that others aspire to emulate."

The attorney general said that the U.S. "will hold accountable anyone who attempts to harm America" ? but added that he doesn't see the fight against terrorism as a "zero-sum battle with our tradition of civil liberties."

He told the audience of his tour last week to the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, saying "my trip reinforced my belief that while closing the detention center will be no easy task, it is one that must be done. The closure of Guantanamo has come to symbolize, to our citizens and to our global partners, the depth of our commitment to the rule of law. That is why President Obama and I believe that ultimately, closing Guantanamo will make us both safer and stronger."

He reiterated his objection to use of special interrogation techniques. "As I unequivocally stated in my confirmation hearing before the United States Senate, 'waterboarding' is torture. My justice department will not justify it, will not rationalize it and will not condone it. The use and sanction of torture is at odds with the history of American jurisprudence and American values. It undermines our ability to pursue justice fairly, and it puts our own brave soldiers in peril should they ever be captured on a foreign battlefield."