But Obama put off many of the most difficult decisions about what the United States will do with detainees and left room to revisit whether the CIA still should have permission to use coercive methods when questioning captives.
Nonetheless, human-rights advocates hailed the steps he took yesterday. And the president was applauded during a State Department visit when he told diplomats: "I can say without exception or equivocation that the United States will not torture."
On Capitol Hill, Dennis Blair, the retired admiral nominated to be the director of national intelligence,
said the government would look at revising the rules in the U.S. Army Field Manual, a move that could allow the CIA to add interrogation techniques.
And
the Obama administration will give itself a year to close the prison at Guan- tánamo;
the timeline will allow the government to determine which detainees should be tried, which should be transferred and what to do with any new accused terrorists.
"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," Obama said.
Obama's orders to close Gitmo, overhaul interrogation -- Newsday.com
