Today has been a very busy day for foreign policy at the Obama White House. President Obama is making plans to shut the Guantanamo and CIA prisons, the new Secretary of State has arrived at the State Department, and a new Mideast envoy has been appointed. Here is a quick roundup of the day's headlines:
The decision to close Guantanamo has proved particularly popular abroad:
Former detainees, human-rights advocates and government officials around the world welcomed President Barack Obama's decision to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center, saying Thursday it helped restore their faith in the United States. […] Spain's top-selling newspaper, El Pais, said in an editorial: “Closing Guantanamo and renouncing torture are two essential steps for the United States to recover its capacity for international leadership, and the new president seems to have understood this.” Spanish public opinion ran strongly against the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.
It's still not clear where the prisoners will be relocated or what legal rights they will have to seek redress for their detention and treatment, but many see this effort to close the prison as a good first step in improving the U.S. image in the world.
