Obama to Sign Executive Order Closing Guantanamo
By VOA News
22 January 2009
Aides to U.S. President Barack Obama say he will sign an executive order Thursday, to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within one year.
The order is expected to call for the transfer or release of the 250 terror suspects held at the facility, as well as a review of all the detainees to determine how to prosecute those that may have committed crimes.
Mr. Obama also is expected to order the end of the use of harsh interrogation techniques by U.S. agents. The order would force all agencies to follow the Army's guidelines, which prohibit some controversial tactics, including waterboarding, a technique that simulates drowning.
Thursday, Mr. Obama, in his second full day in office, is meeting with retired military officers to discuss the proposed executive orders on detention and interrogation policy. He also had a morning meeting scheduled with his economic advisers, and is to visit the State Department later Thursday.
Hours after Mr. Obama took office Tuesday, he and Defense Secretary Robert Gates directed that a motion be filed to suspend the Guantanamo trials for 120 days. The cases that have been suspended include the proceedings against five men accused of plotting the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.
The Guantanamo Bay detention facility has been the subject of fierce debate. China today again called for the return of 17 Chinese nationals being held at Guantanamo. The men are Uighurs, a Muslim minority group living in far northwestern China.
And Cuba called for the entire U.S. military base at Guantanamo to be closed. In an interview with Russia's Itar-Tass news agency, Cuban President Raul Castro said the base should be closed and the territory it occupies returned to what he says are its legal owners - the Cuban people.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters
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