Obama issues order to close down GITMO

Washington, Jan.23 (ANI): President Barack Obama on Thursday has issued an executive order to close down the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He also signed two other executive orders, one presidential directive relating to national security and one abortion policy order, all of which reversed Bush administration policy.

According to Fox News, the national security orders mandates that interrogation techniques in the Army Field Manual be used by all intelligence and law enforcement services; call for a task force to look at closing the detention center in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, within the year; and orders a strategy to be developed for handling detainees in the future.

The presidential directive also orders a stay in the case of Ali Al-Marri, the only person being held by the military as an enemy combatant on U.S. soil.

"We intend to win this fight. We're going to win it on our terms," Obama said as he signed the orders and the directive in the Oval Office.

Obama explained each order before he put his pen to them, in some cases reading them in full, and occasionally solicited input from White House counsel Greg Craig to make sure he was describing them correctly.

"The message that we are sending the world is that the United States intends to prosecute the ongoing struggle against violence and terrorism and we are going to do so vigilantly and we are going to do so effectively and we are going to do so in a manner that is consistent with our values and our ideals," the president said.

According to sources in the law enforcement community, the executive order on interrogation does not declare "enhanced interrogation techniques" to be torture; the order is silent on that.

"This allows for a lot of flexibility, a lot of wiggle room," said one source.

While the administration has insisted on one interrogation standard, one source says they are thinking about assembling a group within the next 60 days to make recommendations on a set of separate techniques for the intelligence community to use.

White House counsel Greg Craig acknowledged late Wednesday that the administration would have to establish a panel to make recommendations to address intelligence community concerns. (ANI)