By Merlyn Mathew
Reversing almost a decade of Bush policy, President Barack Obama signed one of his first orders as the new ruler of the free world to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp and secret prisons by the end of the year. He also issued a ban on coercive interrogations and any other unlawful and corrupt programs existing from the previous administration.
With Obama’s new order, the attorney general must now decide what is to be done with the remaining detainees at these locations. Criminals who cannot be tried in American courts may be sent to other countries, in accordance with the idea of extraordinary rendition. No specific details were given at the White House briefing on Thursday, January 22, about how the prisoners would be treated after being transferred to other countries.
President Obama emphasizes that military officials follow the Army Field Manual, which is currently the only standard on interrogation methods and dealings with detainees. Many Republicans, including Peter Hoekstra of Michigan, are hesitant about supporting Obama because they feel there is a lack of information being released about the new administration plans to carry out this action. Others, Democrats and members of the international community, are overjoyed at this new action because the United States will no longer employ immoral, secretive methods of interrogations.
Because of the new executive order, the Gitmo trials at Guanatanmo have been halted and are under a 120-day suspension as all cases are being reviewed by the President and his advisors. A few Al-Quaeda operatives were believed to have been in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency for several months before being sent to Guantanamo Bay.
President Obama wishes that as a result of this order, America sends a signal to the rest of the world that: “We intend to win this fight and we are going to win it on our own terms.”
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