Obama set to sign death warrant for Guantanamo

On his second day in office, Obama will signal another sharp break with his predecessor, on a day he also highlights a total overhaul in U.S. foreign policy, with his new Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the State Department.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said one executive order would set in motion a "process whereby within a year the facility at Guantanamo Bay will be shut down."

He also said executive orders would be signed relating to the detention of inmates and the interrogation practices of U.S. war on terror detainees, and reportedly Obama would also prohibit secret CIA prisons overseas.

A draft of one of the orders circulated in Washington dictated that Guantanamo Bay, be closed "as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order."

Guantanamo Bay, which still contains more than 240 terror suspects is seen by critics of the Bush administration as a potent symbol of abuses and constitutional infringements they say were committed under the war on terror.

More than 800 men and teenagers have passed through Guantanamo since it was opened on January 11, 2002, and around 245 remain there, most of them for years and without being charged with any crime.

The Obama administration has said that it will launch a review to decide whether remaining prisoners should be released, tried or transferred.

Some outgoing Bush administration officials rejected accusations tactics used had amounted to torture and argued the camp and U.S. interrogation tactics like "waterboarding" or simulated drowning had yielded useful intelligence.

The flurry of executive orders will cement Obama’s fast start to his symbolic first 100 days in office, when a new presidents powers and political leverage are at their apex.

On Wednesday, flexing diplomatic muscle on his first day in office, Obama telephoned Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and King Abdullah II of Jordan.

Obama "used this opportunity on his first day in office to communicate his commitment to active engagement in pursuit of Arab-Israeli peace from the beginning of his term," his spokesman Robert Gibbs said in a statement.

He also followed through on a promise to order top military brass to start planning a "responsible" military drawdown in Iraq.

Obama also sought to make a splash on his ambitious domestic agenda, in line with a promise to purge the influence peddling and corruption staining U.S. politics by signing a string of executive orders dealing with political ethics.

The orders tightened rules on contact between lobbyists and members of the government and restricted contact between former administration members with ex-colleagues when they leave public service.

With many Americans feeling the economic pinch, Obama also clamped a salary freeze on top staff earning more than 100,000 dollars a year.

Later Obama and Vice President Joseph Biden were set to travel across Washington to the State Department to greet Clinton on her first day in office.

"I believe with all my heart that this is a new era for America," Clinton told hundreds of diplomats and others at the entrance to the State Department as she showed up for her first day on Thursday.