CNN 2009-05-22（在线收听）

I’m Nicole Lapin at the CNN Center in Atlanta. Here is your NOW IN THE NEWS update.

President Obama is now backing down from his decision to eventually close the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. In a speech at the National Archive, the president challenged critics who say that closing the center would make the US less secure. Mr. Obama also criticized the Bush administration for leaving office with the situation at Guantanamo unresolved.

I knew when I ordered Guantanamo closed that it would be difficult and complex. There are 240 people there who have now spent years in legal limbo. In dealing with this situation, we don’t have the luxury of starting from scratch. We are cleaning up something that is quite simply a mess.

In a speech right after the president’s, former Vice-president Dick Cheney defended the Bush administration’s actions on Guantanamo and enhanced interrogation techniques. Cheney says that those decisions and policies prevented more attacks on the United States.

When President Obama makes wise decisions, as I believe he has done in some respects on Afghanistan, and in reversing his plan to release incendiary photos, he deserves our support. And when he faults or mischaracterizes the national security decisions we made in the Bush years, he deserves an answer.

Three US soldiers are dead after an attack targeting a military patrol in Baghdad. Twelve Iraqi civilians were also killed in southern Baghdad’s Dora district. At least 25 people were wounded. The Iraqi Interior Ministry says a suicide bomber caused the blast while the US military says it was an IED, an improvised explosive device. The attack is one in a series of deadly strikes by terrorist groups in the recent days.

And suspended NFL quarterback who bankrolled the brutal dog fighting ring is back at home. Of course, we are talking Michael Vick here. He is in Virginia to serve out the last two months of prison sentence in home confinement. He’s spent 23 months at a federal penitentiary in Kansas. The humane society says it’s even had conversations with Vick’s representatives about possibly becoming a spokesman against dog fighting. We’ll wait and see on that.

But for now you are up to date. CNN is always your source for the latest headlines online, on TV or on your cellphone.