Obama takes swift action - With a Stroke of a Pen
Friday, January 23, 2009
In an executive action with the stroke of a pen Obama is changing the way Washington works with the world. He declaired that the reach of the American government will not be limitless. No longer can a President declare war like Bush did on Iraq. No longer can a President circumvent long-standing laws of the United States just because he is President.
Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, facility will be closed in a year, as detainees there have been held without rights for years. The CIA will no longer be allowed to maintain their own secret overseas prisons. No longer can the CIA setup counter terrorism operations worldwide, as they did in Baram air base in Afghanistan so that detainees could be questioned outside military rules and the protocols of the Geneva Conventions which lay out standards for prisoners taken in war. In a direct attack on the Bush lawyers, every legal order taken by these lawyers has been nullified that were created since Sept. 11, 2001. The actions taken by Obama were swift to insure there will be no more abuses of government power.
One obvious question about one of his first executive orders as President would be as to where does Obama plan to put the detainees from the Cuban prisons? I don't think that any state would want any of these hardened terrorist and criminals in their prisons. It will be interesting to see how this issue unfolds in the upcoming months prior to closing.
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