Obama will NOT veto 'indefinite detention' bill

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By JOSH GERSTEIN |
12/14/11 4:19 PM EST

President Barack Obama does not plan to veto a defense bill seeking to direct more terrorism suspects into military custody, the White House signaled Wednesday afternoon.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement that changes lawmakers made to the legislation to accomodate White House concerns were sufficient to avoid a veto. The statement was issued just before the House was expected to vote on the conferenced House-Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Obama's decision disappointed members of his liberal base, some of whom took comments from the White House in recent months to indicate an increased willingness on the president's part to fight for his approach to the war on terror. By deciding not to veto, however, the president may have taken away one point Republicans could have used to argue that he favors a law-enforcement approach to fighting terrorism and that he was even willing to hold up various defense programs in order to insist on his approach.

"After intensive engagement by senior administration officials and the President himself, the Administration has succeeded in prompting the authors of the detainee provisions to make several important changes, including the removal of problematic provisions. While we remain concerned about the uncertainty that this law will create for our counterterrorism professionals, the most recent changes give the President additional discretion in determining how the law will be implemented, consistent with our values and the rule of law," Carney said in his statement.

"As a result of these changes, we have concluded that the language does not challenge or constrain the President’s ability to collect intelligence, incapacitate dangerous terrorists, and protect the American people, and the President’s senior advisors will not recommend a veto.  However, if in the process of implementing this law we determine that it will negatively impact our counterterrorism professionals and undercut our commitment to the rule of law, we expect that the authors of these provisions will work quickly and tirelessly to correct these problems," Carney added.

Critics of the detainee provisions were clearly disheartened by Obama's decision and said he had caved to political pressure.

"The President should be leading, but instead he’s apparently prepared to compromise national security and the rule of law for politics," said Raha Wala of Human Rights First. "This bill bundles the worst counterterrorism ideas devised since 9/11 into a nice little package.  As a former constitutional law professor, the President should know better.”