Obama executive orders; Guantanamo

Today President Obama signed several executive orders, including one to close the detention center at Guantanamo within a year. What will happen to the remaining detainees is still uncertain, but he laid out the options — which range from federal trials to some sort of of reformed military commission (which seems to leave the door open to the use of secret evidence.) He also created a task force to review detainee policy, and ordered that all interrogations be done in conformity with the Army Field Manual (that outlines legal interrogation techniques,) and banned reliance on Bush administration legal opinions on interrogations going back to 2001, a dramatic move — and a big slap across the face to the Bush legal team. He also ordered a “review” the case of Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri — the last remaining so-called “enemy combatant” being held without trial on US soil. His case is before the US Supreme Court. Some more details released by the White House: