Obama Reverses Key Bush Security Policies

After a number of oppositions towards Guantanamo Bay detention camp during his campaign, President Obama, in his first day of his presidency, signed executive orders to close down the secret prison in Cuba and to ban all the coercive interrogation methods within a year.

President Obama said, "We intend to win this fight. We are going to win it on our own terms."

His actions have won approval from many human rights groups, who said that the actions will restore the country's morality in eyes of other countries. There is no question that the action was a significant step towards re-ruling the country's methods for dealing with terrorism suspects. However, there are some questions that have not been answered in the White House's orders. The questions are: What should be done with terrorists who cannot be tried in American courts? Should some interrogation methods remain secret to keep Al Qaeda from training to resist them? How can the United States make sure prisoners transferred to other countries will not be tortured?

There is likely to be debate within the White House to answer those questions. John D. Huston, a retried admiral and law school dean, said that closing the Guantanamo prison and banning coercive interrogation methods "is the right thing to do morally, diplomatically, militarily and constitutionally." On the other hand, Representative Peter Hoekstra of Michigan said that the orders to close down the prison "place hope ahead of reality -- it sets an objective without a plan to get there."

Opinion: I personally believe that the President Obama has done a right thing. The United States has done a tremendous amount of international works to establish peace and justice in the world. Thus, the coercive interogation methods in the prison will damage the United States' reputation as the world's leading power that demands and supports justice. However, as Peter Hoekstra pointed out, I think it was a little bit of a rush in making such a serious decision. I have read another article that clearly showed how risky and dangerous it could be to shut down the prison without a thorough plan to get to the positve end. According to the aritcle a man, who was released from the Guantanamo Bay camp, has become a leader of Al Qaeda. Therefore, I think the White House should come up with a plan that could bring positive results to the President Obama's very first decision as the President of the United States.