I wanted to ask you about protecting all Americans, as well. There are many Arab Americans and Muslims in this country who find themselves unfairly scrutinized by law enforcement and by society at large. Just yesterday we had arrests in Albany, New York. Immediately afterwards, some neighbors in the community said they feared that the law would come for them unfairly next. We have a new book out today that suggests perhaps we should reconsider internment camps. How do we balance the need to pursue and detain some individuals from not well-known communities, while at the same time keeping innocent people from being painted by the broad brush of suspicion?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, I appreciate that. First, we don't need intern camps. I mean, forget it. (Applause.) Right after 9/11, I knew this was going to be an issue in our country, that there would be people that say, there goes a Muslim-looking person, therefore that person might be viewed as a terrorist. I knew that was going to be a problem. That's why I went to a mosque, to send the signal, right after the attacks, that said, let's uphold our values. People are innocent until judged guilty. Religious people, people that go to mosques, you know, need to be -- Americans need to be viewed as equally American as their neighbor, be tolerant; let law enforcement, to the best of their ability, determine guilt or innocence, but our fellow citizens need to treat people with respect.
By far, most Americans in this country did that, not because I asked them to, just because by far the vast majority of Americans are decent people. They care about their neighbors. I don't care where you're from or what your walk of life is, by far the vast majority of our citizens are willing to reach out to somebody who is different. And that needed to be done. As a matter of fact, the anecdotal stories of neighbors helping neighbors, across religious lines, were heart warming.
Now in terms of the balance between running down intelligence and bringing people to justice obviously is -- we need to be very sensitive on that. Lackawanna, for example, was a -- there was a cell there. And it created a lot of nervousness in the community, because the FBI skillfully ferreted out intelligence that indicated that these people were in communication with terrorist networks. And I thought they handled the case very well, but at the time there was a lot of nervousness. People said, well, I may be next -- but they weren't next, because it was just a focused, targeted investigation. And, by the way, some were then incarcerated and told their stories, and it turned out the intelligence was accurate intelligence.
I guess my answer to your question is, is that we've always got to make sure that people are judged innocent before guilty, that's the best insurance policy for law enforcement overstepping its bounds. I will also tell you, however, that the threats we're dealing with are real, and therefore we must do everything we can to ferret out the truth and follow leads.
We cannot -- again -- it's interesting, these recent threats, you know, they're becoming more and more enriched, as you're finding out. There was more than one thread line -- threat line. People are now seeing there was other reasons why we took the action we took. When we find out intelligence that is real that threatens people, I believe we have an obligation, as government, to share that with people. And imagine what would happen if we didn't share that information with the people in those buildings, and something were to happen; then what would you write, what would you say?
So we have a, in terms of law enforcement, we have a duty to uphold innocence and guilt. In terms of a government, we have the solemn duty to follow every lead we find and share information we have with people that could be harmed. And that's exactly what we've done, and I will continue to do as the President.
This is a dangerous time. I wish it wasn't this way. I wish I wasn't the war President. Who in the heck wants to be a war President? I don't. But this is what came our way. And this is our duty, to protect our people. It's a solemn duty, and I'll continue doing it to the best of my ability.
