President Obama took the first step toward fulfilling a key campaign promise, signing an executive order to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center within the year.
The measure is part of a larger overhaul of government policy on the treatment and transfer of detainees suspected of terrorism. Related measures also signed by Obama on Thursday create a task force to develop new rules for prosecuting and handling detainees, and requiring humane treatment of those in custody.
“This is me following through on not just a commitment I made during the campaign, but I think an understanding that dates back to our Founding Fathers, that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct not just when it’s easy, but also when it’s hard,” Obama said.
During the campaign, Obama was sharply critical of the Bush administration on torture, prisoner rendition and the Guantanamo Bay prison. His first official acts overturned some of the most contentious policies of the prior administration.
The orders require interrogators to follow the Army Field Manual and Geneva Conventions in dealing with detainees. There will be no more waterboarding of terrorism suspects. In addition, the CIA is directed to shut down any secret prisons, so-called “black sites” still in operation.
But Republicans in Congress warned the new administration to proceed carefully.
“How does it make sense to close down the Guantanamo facility before there is a clear plan to deal with the terrorists inside its walls?” said Rep. Eric Cantor of Virginia, the House Republican whip.
One of several challenges for the Obama administration in shuttering the facility is figuring out what to do with the 245 detainees still incarcerated there, including how to prosecute them, where to jail them and where to send those who are released.
At his confirmation hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee, retired Adm. Dennis Blair, who is Obama’s nominee to be director of national intelligence, called the Cuban-based prison “a damaging symbol to the world.”
“The decision to close Guantanamo comes right along with a very hard look at what do we do with those 245 people that are there,” Blair said. “There aren’t pretty choices for what we have to do with them.”
Many of the detainees’ home countries have refused to accept them. Obama gave his task force, comprised of several Cabinet and other officials, 180 days to come back with recommendations, including the option of sending them to some other country that would accept them.
“The message that we are sending around the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism,” Obama said. “And we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and ideals.”
