US

Obama orders Guantanamo shut within a year

Article published on the 2009-01-23 Latest update 2009-01-23 12:16 TU

Retired officers applaud as President Obama signs the order to close Guantanamo.
(Photo: Reuters)

Barely 48 hours after taking office, US President Barack Obama ordered the CIA to shut down its secret prisons including the one at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within a year. He also formally banned torture methods being used to interrogate suspected terrorists.

With a group of retired military personnel providing a backdrop, President Obama signed the executive orders in the Oval Office, saying, "once again, America's moral example must be the bedrock and the beacon of our global leadership."

The US media hailed the event as an “end to the war on terror” as it put an abrupt end to some of the more widely-criticised policies of the Bush administration.

The order states that Guantanamo is to be closed as soon as possible, within a maximum delay of one year.

The order will also limit the coercive interrogation techniques available to the CIA to the 19 techniques outlined in the US military manual. This voluntary limitation was criticised by members of the Bush administration because al-Qaeda members could hypothetically train to resist the methods which are described in detail in manuals available to the public.

Obama’s yet-to-be confirmed director of national intelligence, Denis C. Blair, reflects the administration’s new attitude to dealing with suspected terrorists and security threats.

“I believe strongly that torture is not moral, legal or effective,” he told the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence. “Any program of detention and interrogation must comply with the Geneva Conventions, the Conventions on Torture and the Constitution. There must be clear standards for human treatment that apply to all agencies of US Government, including the Intelligence Community.”