Thank You, Mr. President !

For so long I have been demanding that Guantánamo be closed, that those in favor of water-boarding be labeled no-brainers and forbidden to continue their torture of suspects, that the United States adhere to its own and international principles of the rule of law and maintenance of justice in all necessary efforts to stop terrorists, who, as I have also long maintained, seek to destroy precisely that system of justice and freedom we must defend and which the bushbaby was all to ready to abandon.
Therefore I must here state how enormously grateful I am to President Obama for signing these executive orders to close Guantánamo, to cease the operation of secret CIA prisons in other countries, and to forbid the use of torture.
It will be difficult, because of the illegal torturing of many of those suspects, to bring them to trial; this is the legacy of the bushbaby playpen. Therefore it is all the more important to adhere to the rules of the legal system in future so as to be able to bring suspects to trial, determine guilt or innocence, and properly punish the guilty.
It is a delight to see the playpen dismantled and the rattlers of power removed from the hands of its denizens! Mr. Obama is fulfilling his promises!

Obama Reverses Key Bush Security Policies
The New York Times, Washington, January 22, 2009

President Obama reversed the most disputed counterterrorism policies of the Bush administration on Thursday, declaring that “our ideals give us the strength and moral high ground” in the fight against Al Qaeda. [ ... ]

Mr. Obama signed executive orders closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, within a year; ending the Central Intelligence Agency’s secret prisons; and requiring all interrogations to follow the noncoercive methods of the Army Field Manual.
“We intend to win this fight,” he said. “We are going to win it on our own terms.”

Barack Obama décrète la fermeture du centre de détention de Guantanamo d'ici un an
LE MONDE 22.01.09

Le président américain a décrété, jeudi 22 janvier, la fermeture du centre de détention de Guantanamo d'ici un an. Le camp, qui compte actuellement 245 détenus, avait été ouvert sur la base militaire de Cuba après les attentats du 11 septembre 2001 pour détenir ce que l'administration Bush classait comme des "combattants illégaux". Dès mercredi, au lendemain de l'investiture de M. Obama, deux juges militaires ont suspendu, à sa demande et pour 120 jours, les procédures judiciaires en cours à Guantanamo.

Dans un autre décret, Barack Obama a également imposé que les Etats-Unis se conforment aux conventions de Genève sur les prisonniers de guerre. "Le message que nous envoyons au monde, c'est que les Etats-Unis ont l'intention de poursuivre le combat engagé contre la violence et le terrorisme, que nous le ferons avec vigilance, que nous le ferons avec efficacité, et que nous le ferons dans le respect de nos valeurs et de nos idéaux", a-t-il dit. Les Américains savent, "comme je l'ai dit lors de mon investiture, que nous ne perpétuerons pas le mauvais choix entre notre sécurité et nos idéaux", a-t-il ajouté.

Bush's 'War' On Terror Comes to a Sudden End

The Washington Post, January 23, 2009; Page A01

President Obama yesterday eliminated the most controversial tools employed by his predecessor against terrorism suspects. With the stroke of his pen, he effectively declared an end to the "war on terror," as President George W. Bush had defined it, signaling to the world that the reach of the U.S. government in battling its enemies will not be limitless.