Editorial
Obama moves on Guantanamo issue
Justice must be ensured for those held
There is little question that Barack Obama faces a whole slew of challenges as he begins his presidency on a note of euphoria. In these past few days since his inauguration on Tuesday, America's new leader has happily demonstrated his determination to do business through living up to his campaign pledges. He has ordered prosecutors to halt all proceedings against prisoners held on Guantanamo, a directive that has been heeded by the military judges handling matters in what has turned into a symbol of notoriety. Obama's action is welcome, though many are disappointed that in the matter of those on trial on the island, proceedings have been halted for 120 days. Obviously, these individuals, many of them families of those detained, expected quicker action and so quicker justice to be done.
That said, President Obama's action, together with moves in other areas, is a clear sign of the change he wishes to bring about in American politics and in its dealings with the outside world. Guantanamo, in that respect, is one area where speedy action is demanded not because justice has been delayed but because all norms of justice have been flouted by the just departed Bush administration. Men accused of being part of the Taliban or being their associates have been jailed there for years in some of the most horrendous conditions imaginable. For a country that has regularly projected itself as a land of liberty, America's treatment of the inmates on Guantanamo has been a hard slap across the face of human conscience. These prisoners, caught or abducted in various parts of the world, have then been subjected to intense torture. The Bush administration infamously arranged rendition flights by which many of these men were flown to countries known for the sophistication of their torture methods and treated badly. In other words, Guantanamo will forever stand as a crude symbol, that of a supposedly democratically elected western government undermining the rights and self-esteem of prisoners seized in strange circumstances.
It is this blight that President Obama must push into the past. A thorough, swift review of cases relating to those being held must be gone through. That should be followed by a transfer of cases, if any, to regular courts empowered to try all accused in full view of the world.
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