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Change I can believe in

January 22, 2009 - WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama began overhauling U.S. treatment of terror suspects Thursday, signing orders to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre, review military war crimes trials and ban the harshest interrogation methods.

Obama signs executive order closing Guantanamo Bay prison camp - AP/CP

I don't know how to describe a government that places itself above and beyond the law as anything other than a reign of terror. The Bush/Cheney government was an exercise in evil wrapped with disingenuous legalese and invented excuses to support their assertions that they could kidnap and torture anyone, anywhere in the world. This is the first step in ending that poisonous, destructive, arrogant government philosophy.

I still can't believe the American people didn't take to the streets when Bush announced blandly that he had SECRET FVCKING PRISONS, but at least they've redeemed their democracy somewhat today.

UPDATE: The Executive Orders are available on whitehouse.gov now. They're pretty dense reading but you can get the intent of them quite clearly nonetheless.

EXECUTIVE ORDERS

January 22, 2009

• Review and Disposition of Individuals Detained at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Closure of Detention Facilities
• Review of Detention Policy Options
• Ensuring Lawful Interrogations

I really can't fully express the profound sense of relief I feel in reading these documents. posted by Richard at 13:54 / permalink (post) | permalink (numeric)