Obama confronts defining issues

At times defensive, solemn, lawyerly and personal, President Barack Obama last week offered a rare glimpse of the burden the nation's fight against terrorism has placed on the man who leads it.

In a speech spanning nearly an hour, the former constitutional law professor addressed what is likely to be a central piece of his legacy, weighing what is ''legal'' and ''effective'' in warfare against what is ''wise or moral''.

Obama acknowledged that drone strikes he has ordered have killed innocent people.

''For me, and those in my chain of command, those deaths will haunt us as long as we live, just as we are haunted by the civilian casualties that have occurred throughout conventional fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq,'' he said.

At the core of the President's speech was a detailed case for the continued, if more circumscribed, use of unmanned aircraft: a bullet-pointed defence aimed squarely at liberal critics.

The President not only dealt with critics rhetorically, but he also confronted a prominent one in the audience at the National Defence University. Medea Benjamin, the co-founder of the anti-war group Code Pink, interrupted numerous times to shout accusations that have dogged Obama for years.

''Why was 16-year-old Abdulrahman Awlaki killed? A 16-year-old boy? Why won't you tell us?'' she yelled, invoking the name of one of four Americans the Obama administration acknowledged had been killed in drone strikes.

Obama's careful and almost deferential response suggested he is closely attuned to such complaints. Rather than dismiss Benjamin as a heckler, the President engaged her, asking her to let him explain, but also pausing to listen as she continued to talk while security closed around her.

''Can you tell the Muslim people their lives are as precious as our lives? … Can you stop the signature strikes that are killing people on the basis of suspicious activities? … Will you apologise to the thousands of Muslims that you have killed?''

As Benjamin was escorted out, Obama said: ''The voice of that woman is worth paying attention to.''

The exchange was only one of several moments when the President seemed to be considering the evidence and even conceding a point.

Drone strikes, the President acknowledged, were not ''wise or moral every instance''.

''It was like watching an inner dialogue,'' said Heather Hurlburt, executive director of the National Security Network, a think tank focused on defence policy. ''What we saw in that was the President arguing with himself a little bit. And I hope we're all inspired to do that.''

The President's discussion of the issues showed how far the debate has come in the 16 months since he first acknowledged the secret missions he had been authorising for three years. In those remarks, he offered only cursory assurances and little sense of the heft of the legal and moral questions at stake.

''This thing is kept on a very tight leash,'' Obama said then, explaining that the US does not use drones ''willy-nilly'' but in a way that avoids more intrusive military actions.

Since then, Obama has been under pressure to show that he and his administration are addressing questions about legal precedent, presidential authority and congressional oversight. His speech answered his critics. Obama took on several issues that could shape his reputation.

As his Justice Department has subpoenaed phone records of some journalists and accused one of abetting espionage, the President acknowledged: ''I'm troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable.''

He also vowed to renew his thwarted push to close Guantanamo Bay.

Executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, Anthony Romero, was wary of the promises. ''President Obama's efforts to repair his legacy in the eyes of future historians will require that he continue to double down if he is to fully restore this nation's standing at home and abroad,'' he said.

Obama seemed to anticipate scepticism. He ended his remarks with some of his own questions.

''I'm willing to cut the young lady who interrupted me some slack because it's worth being passionate about. Is this who we are? Is that something our founders foresaw?

''Is that the America we want to leave our children?'' he said.