100 Reasons Why President Obama Is NOT The Same As President Bush

[sheshe2]

36. ...

In the first sign of friction within his new administration, President Obama overruled the pleas of senior U.S. intelligence officials and signed a new executive order that bars the CIA from using harsh interrogation methods beyond those permitted by the U.S. military.

The order was one of four sweeping directives Obama signed calling for the closure of the U.S. detention facility at Guantánamo Bay and revamping U.S. counterterrorism policies.

The executive orders, while expected, represented a clean break with Bush administration policies and won quick praise from human-rights groups. Still, many of the difficult details—such as what to do with Guantánamo detainees still deemed dangerous—will be left up to a special interagency panel that won't report its recommendations to Obama for six months. The panel is to be chaired by Obama's choice for attorney general, Eric Holder, who is still awaiting confirmation.

In perhaps his most far-reaching and potentially controversial move, Obama ordered that the CIA immediately cease using any interrogation techniques that are not already authorized in the U.S. Army Field Manual. He also ordered the CIA to close, "as expeditiously as possible," any secret detention facilities overseas and begin immediate compliance with Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, which prohibits "humiliating and degrading" treatment of prisoners.

In a stinging, if not entirely surprising, rebuke to Bush administration legal policies, Obama's order states that U.S. government officials involved in interrogations may no longer rely on any Justice Department legal memos written between September 11, 2001, and Jan. 20, 2009. Such memos—many of them still secret and the subject of fierce controversy during the Bush years—were, with one stroke of Obama's pen, made invalid.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2009/01/21/the-end-of-torture.html



Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) made clear the Republican support for Gitmo in a statement, “What has not changed since the issuance of the president’s executive orders is that terrorists working to attack the United States are enemy combatants, and if captured should be placed in military custody where they can be interrogated. The decision of the president to import Sulaiman Abu Ghaith into the United States solely for civilian prosecution makes little sense, and reveals, yet again, a stubborn refusal to avoid holding additional terrorists at the secure facility at Guantanamo Bay despite the circumstances.”

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It’s beyond frustrating that Americans elected President Obama twice, in part due to his approach to our foreign policy and national security, and yet they are getting Bushian/Republican policies on Gitmo and military tribunals shoved down their throats because Republicans and some Democrats refuse to fund Obama’s executive order.

Contrary to what you may have read for the last four years, President Obama really did sign an executive order to close Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (aka, Gitmo) and bring terror suspects to the continental US for civilian trials instead of military tribunals, per his understanding of our Constitution.

On January 22, 2009, as one of his first official acts in office, Barack Obama signed an executive order to close Gitmo within one year. On that day Obama said, “This is me following through on not just a commitment I made during the campaign, but I think an understanding that dates back to our founding fathers, that we are willing to observe core standards of conduct, not just when it’s easy, but also when it’s hard.”

http://www.politicususa.com/2013/03/10/republicans-finally-closet-preventing-obama-closing-gitmo-civilian-trials.html


House Republican Defense Bill Blocks Guantanamo Closing
By RICHARD LARDNER and DONNA CASSATA 06/03/13 02:13 PM ET EDT AP

WASHINGTON -- Rebuffing President Barack Obama's latest plea, House Republicans on Monday proposed keeping open the military-run prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by barring the administration from transferring its terror suspects to the United States or a foreign country such as Yemen.

The provisions dealing with the fate of the remaining 166 prisoners are part of a defense policy bill drafted by Armed Services Committee Chairman Howard P. "Buck" McKeon, R-Calif. The chairman released the bill Monday, two days before Republicans and Democrats on the committee will vote on it.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/03/house-republican-guantanamo_n_3379328.html