WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said Wednesday that he would bring Osama bin Laden to justice in a way that wouldn’t allow the terrorist mastermind to become a martyr, but he may be killed if the U.S. government finds him.
He said he wouldn’t discuss what approach he would take to bring bin Laden to justice if he were apprehended. But he said the Nuremberg trials for the prosecution of Nazi leaders are an inspiration because the victors acted to advance universal principles and set a tone for the creation of an international order.
Obama was questioned about bin Laden after he met with a new team of national security advisers. The meeting came after rival John McCain’s campaign said Obama had a pre-Sept. 11 mind-set regarding terrorism.
“I refuse to be lectured on national security by people who are responsible for the most disastrous set of foreign policy decisions in the recent history of the United States,” Obama said.
He was surrounded by national security experts who had formerly served in Congress and the Clinton administration — an effort to bring foreign policy experience to a candidate who has served just three years in Congress.
