World in focus on Obama’s 2nd day
Güncelleme Tarihi:
The Associated Press
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Ocak 23, 2009 00:00
WASHINGTON - Moving quickly to reverse many former Bush administration policies, President Barack Obama began overhauling national security policy yesterday with orders to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, a government official said.
The Republican opposition in Congress, meanwhile, said it would seek a meeting with Obama to voice growing concerns about portions of his plan to spend $825 billion in a bid to reverse the country's perilous economic slide.
As Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press yesterday, the new U.S. president is set to sign the order to shutter the Guantanamo prison within one year, a senior Obama administration official said. Critics of the lockup at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba say its use violates detainee rights. A draft copy of the order, obtained late on Wednesday by The Associated Press, notes that "in view of significant concerns raised by these detentions, both within the United States and internationally, prompt and appropriate disposition of the individuals currently detained at Guantanamo and closure of the facility would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice."
The executive order was one of three expected on how to interrogate and prosecute al-Qaeda, Taliban or other foreign fighters believed to threaten the U.S.
The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.
An estimated 245 men are being held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, most of whom have been detained for years without being charged with a crime. Obama also had in hand executive orders to review military trials of terror suspects and end harsh interrogations, a key part of aides' plans that had been assembled even before Obama won the election on Nov. 4.
Image problem
Also yesterday, Obama visited the State Department to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and his top national security advisers to round out a day focused on restoring the U.S. image abroad by making a clean break with some of the most controversial national security policies of the administration of former President George W. Bush.
White House aides announced that the president met with retired military officers about the executive orders in the morning, but did not confirm that Obama planned to sign them immediately. The Obama-Clinton meeting also included Vice President Joe Biden and national security adviser Jim Jones and his deputy.
On his first full day in office, Obama made telephone calls Wednesday to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Obama started yesterday with a private meeting on the nation's struggling economy, a signal to the millions of Americans hit by tighter credit, increasing home foreclosures and the dollar's shrinking value.
On Wednesday, he signed executive orders to limit his staff's ability to leave the administration to lobby their former colleagues. He also limited pay raises for his senior aides making more than $100,000 a year - a nod to a flailing economy and voters' frustrations.
The new commander in chief held his first meeting in the Situation Room, where he, Biden and senior military and foreign policy officials discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama campaigned on a pledge to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months, and to beef up the commitment in Afghanistan. Obama asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning necessary to "execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq."
As Hürriyet Daily News & Economic Review went to press yesterday, the new U.S. president is set to sign the order to shutter the Guantanamo prison within one year, a senior Obama administration official said. Critics of the lockup at a U.S. Navy base in Cuba say its use violates detainee rights. A draft copy of the order, obtained late on Wednesday by The Associated Press, notes that "in view of significant concerns raised by these detentions, both within the United States and internationally, prompt and appropriate disposition of the individuals currently detained at Guantanamo and closure of the facility would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice."
The executive order was one of three expected on how to interrogate and prosecute al-Qaeda, Taliban or other foreign fighters believed to threaten the U.S.
The administration already has suspended trials for terrorist suspects at Guantanamo for 120 days pending a review of the military tribunals.
An estimated 245 men are being held at the U.S. naval base in Cuba, most of whom have been detained for years without being charged with a crime. Obama also had in hand executive orders to review military trials of terror suspects and end harsh interrogations, a key part of aides' plans that had been assembled even before Obama won the election on Nov. 4.
Image problem
Also yesterday, Obama visited the State Department to meet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and his top national security advisers to round out a day focused on restoring the U.S. image abroad by making a clean break with some of the most controversial national security policies of the administration of former President George W. Bush.
White House aides announced that the president met with retired military officers about the executive orders in the morning, but did not confirm that Obama planned to sign them immediately. The Obama-Clinton meeting also included Vice President Joe Biden and national security adviser Jim Jones and his deputy.
On his first full day in office, Obama made telephone calls Wednesday to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Jordan's King Abdullah and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Obama started yesterday with a private meeting on the nation's struggling economy, a signal to the millions of Americans hit by tighter credit, increasing home foreclosures and the dollar's shrinking value.
On Wednesday, he signed executive orders to limit his staff's ability to leave the administration to lobby their former colleagues. He also limited pay raises for his senior aides making more than $100,000 a year - a nod to a flailing economy and voters' frustrations.
The new commander in chief held his first meeting in the Situation Room, where he, Biden and senior military and foreign policy officials discussed the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Obama campaigned on a pledge to withdraw U.S. combat forces from Iraq within 16 months, and to beef up the commitment in Afghanistan. Obama asked the Pentagon to do whatever additional planning necessary to "execute a responsible military drawdown from Iraq."