Order closes Gitmo, impacts interrogations

[unhappycamper]

Order closes Gitmo, impacts interrogations
By Ben Feller - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Jan 22, 2009 16:40:16 EST

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

With his action, Obama started changing how the United States prosecutes and questions al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters who pose a threat to Americans — and overhauling America’s image abroad, battered by accusations of the use of torture and the indefinite detention of suspects at the Guantanamo prison in Cuba.

“The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism, and we are going to do so vigilantly and 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,” the president said.

The centerpiece order would close the much-maligned Guantanamo facility within a year, a complicated process with many unanswered questions that was nonetheless a key campaign promise of Obama’s. The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.

In the other actions, Obama:


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/news/2009/01/ap_obama_closing_guantanamo_012209w/%2e