Obama vs Torture...

Balkinization describes four executive orders Obama signed Thursday about Interrogation and Detention. Some of the quotes below are from the article and some from the executive orders themselves.

Obama Executive Order Establishing Lawful Standards of Interrogation and Detention "In the first executive order (reproduced below) President Obama gets rid of every secret Bush Office of Legal Counsel opinion authorizing torture and cruel treatment and requires full compliance with Geneva Common Article 3." It's also makes the Army Field Manual the controlling document for CIA interrogations, which is the thing that John McCain voted against. "The order also requires closure of CIA detention facilities, including its secret "black sites" and requires access to and identification of detainees to the Red Cross."

Second Obama Executive Order Setting Up Interagency Task Force on Detention and Trial Practices. "The mission of the Special Task Force shall be to conduct a comprehensive review of the lawful options available to the Federal Government with respect to the apprehension, detention, trial, transfer, release, or other disposition of individuals captured or apprehended in connection with armed conflicts and counterterrorism operations, and to identify such options as are consistent with the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice." They must provide a report within 6 months.

Third Obama Executive Order Closes Guantanamo Bay, Stops Military Commissions. "This third Obama Executive Order requires that the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay be closed within a year and requires determinations as to the best way to deal with its remaining detainees."

Fourth Obama Executive Order Reviews Treatment of Al-Marri. "For more than 5 years, the Department of Defense has detained Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri as an enemy combatant in facilities within the United States. Al-Marri is the only individual the Department of Defense is currently holding as an enemy combatant within the United States. Because he is not held at Guantánamo Bay, al-Marri is not covered by the review mandated in the Review and Disposition Order. Yet it is equally in the interests of the United States that the executive branch undertake a prompt and thorough review of the factual and legal basis for al-Marri's continued detention, and identify and thoroughly evaluate alternative dispositions."

These executive orders are posted at the White House web site. These are all good steps and I'll attribute their delay until his second full day in office on the state of White House technology. :)