Thursday, January 22, 2009, President Obama signed four executive orders regarding the closing of Guantánamo Bay. The first order signed stated that the detention camp be closed within a year, and the three following orders involved the stopping of torture, and what will happen to detainees once the detention camp and secret prisons of Guantánamo Bay are closed. As he promised, Obama was proving his dedication making changes now, and to ending torture.
In his Inaugural speech, President Obama addressed the topic of torture with this statement: “And for those who seek to advance their aims by inducing terror and slaughtering innocents, we say to you now that ‘Our spirit is stronger and cannot be broken. You cannot outlast us, and we will defeat you.’” Here, President Obama makes it clear that torture is not acceptable and that we are better than that. Before making this statement, the president spoke about other nations – specifically Iraq and Afghanistan. He believes we must end the war in Iraq, and create peace in Afghanistan. Through this section of his inaugural speech collectively, President Obama implied that he will not allow torture. By calling for the shutting down of Guantánamo Bay, the president is starting to fulfill this goal.
The first executive order the president signed directly states that Guantánamo Bay detention camps will be shut down within a year. The second order states that interrogations must follow regulations of the Army Field Manual, and that intelligence will be gathered in humane, lawful, and safe ways. In addition to how intelligence is obtained from detainees, it is important that the president have proper and reliable sources to receive this information himself. The third executive offer signed this Thursday addressed this issue, because it calls for a special inner-agency task force dealing with detainee disposition. People designated to work in this task force include the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Director of National Intelligence, Secretary of Homeland Security, Chairman of the Joint-Chiefs, and Director of the CIA. Detainee disposition is a consequence of closing Guantánamo Bay, mainly because some detainees cannot be tried in American courts, some may be sent to other prisons within the USA, and there is the question for some of whether some detainees will go back to Iraq and to prisons. The fourth executive order concerns a particular detainee named Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. Suspected of being a terrorist, he is presently in a military jail in South Carolina. Al-Marri will be tried before the Supreme Court, but more time has been allotted to reviewing more evidence and policies regarding his case. Currently, he is in a military jail in South Carolina, and is suspected of being a terrorist.
Accompanying the president during this signing were sixteen flag officers. Before signing the first executive offer, President Obama said that these officers “came to both Joe and myself, and all the candidates, and made a passionate plea, that we restore the standards of due process, and the core constitutional values, that have made this country great, even in the midst of war, even in dealing with terrorism, they made an extraordinary impression on me, they are outstanding Americans who have fought and defended this country, and for them to fight on behalf of our constitutional ideals and values, I think is exceptional, so I wanted to make sure that they were here to witness the signing of this executive order.” The flag officers were one group who had hopes fulfilled by the signings of these executive offers, but were not the only ones.
Amnesty International is a human rights activism group that had been fighting for the closing of Guantánamo Bay. On Thursday, when the signing took place, both the Amnesty International and Amnesty International USA websites featured the event on their homepages. After seven years of efforts to shut down the prison camps and detention centers at Guantánamo, many Amnesty members are probably very excited about these new plans regarding not only the closing of the camps, but also ending the use of torture. However, as explained on the Amnesty International USA website, there is still much work to be done regarding human rights. “As the process of closing Guantánamo unfolds, Amnesty International and its supporters will be vigilant and continue to press for accountability.”
President Obama has given the nation a new sense of hope, and said he would help our country to make changes immediately, because now is the time for change. By signing these four executive orders on the second day of his presidency, President Obama is helping us fulfill our hopes of being a better country, and pursuing human rights.