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Obama Signs Order To Close Gitmo
President Obama moments ago signed an executive order closing the Guantanamo detention facility within a year.
The move makes good on a key Obama campaign promise.
Obama also signed two other orders, reviewing military trials of terror suspects, and banning the harshest interrogation methods.
After signing, Obama said:
The message we are sending around the world is that the US intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly, we are going to do so effectively, and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals ... We intend to win this fight, and we intend to win it on our terms.
Here's the video:
The order to close Guantanamo can be found here.
The order to review detention policies can be found here.
The order revising interrogation policies can be found here.
And the order for a review of al Marri's detention can be found here.
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Josh
Zachary
However, I heard this morn that in some 'special' circumstances interrogators may basically ignore the military guidelines governing prisoner interrogation when the situation calls for getting information quickly - approved by Obama.
Very discouraging, not to mention non-sensical, if true.
(The absence of professional counter-intelligence agents on the set when media-types are discussing interrogation of prisoners - a subject, like too many others, about which they know next to nothing - is mind boggling. I have yet to read or hear a professional interrogator make the claim that torture ever extracts viable information from its victim.)
January 22, 2009 11:48 AM | Reply | Permalink
TAPPED actually has a pretty good take-down of this supposed "exception":
http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=01&year=2009&base_name=day_two_an_end_to_torture
January 22, 2009 11:52 AM | Reply | Permalink
thanks precisioncontrol.
(This morning Scarborough's rant following his rant on the closing of Gitmo ended by him justifying torture because the Nazis, who he assumed had signed Geneva or something, had practiced it against prisoners. {Scarborough is in serious need of therapy.})
January 22, 2009 1:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think torture was a philosophical issue with the neo-cons. It was clear that the policy was adverse to the interests of the United States and that as way of gaining information it was ineffective. Broadcasting that human rights were to go the by and by was the goal of the torture policy. All power was to flow from the unitary presidency and the torture policy was sort of advertisement to the people of the US keep in line, bow down to George - rights mean zip to this President. If the neo-con line wasn't followed one could be next and rights would be useless as a defense.
January 22, 2009 3:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
"We intend to win this fight, and we intend to win it on our terms."
How far we did stray! Scared out of our wits, evidently, We the People forgot the most basic lessons and re-elected the Forgetter in Chief, handing Bin Laden his greatest victory in November 2004. The beginning of Al Qaeda's end came at noon on January 20, 2009.
January 22, 2009 6:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hey you guys! How's it goin? I am really happy to be back here in Texas and I am glad to have time to do some postin and to answer some of ya'lls questions now that I have time. The title of this article caught my eye because it shows that I don't disagree with Obama about everything. I think shutters will be a nice touch at gitmo and if we spruce the place up a bit people won't be so worried that we arent being human to all the terrorists down there.
God bless America!
January 22, 2009 11:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
The interesting thing is Obama's apparent reluctance to use the word "terrorism". He kept saying "violence", after pausing as if trying to find another word. I assume this is a reaction to Bush throwing the word around so indiscriminately, but "violence" is hardly better, and even less descriptive. Why can't he just say "the Muslim extremists who threaten us and our allies", which is what everybody knows he really means?
January 23, 2009 12:31 AM | Reply | Permalink