Obama Backtracks On Gitmo

The first was to reinstitute the Military Tribunals for detainees held at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center, nullifying an Executive Order he had signed shortly after entering office which had suspended them and leaving the possibility open that the much-maligned prison would not be closed next January as announced.

Though the President has strengthened the legal rights of detainees, specifying for example that evidence obtained under duress is inadmissible, the fact that the nine outstanding trials will be completed in Guantanamo Bay rather than in the United States, where the prisoners would have to be granted the rights of a U.S. citizen in court, is very welcome news.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, (Independent-Conn) summed up the change succinctly, saying: "By taking this action, President Obama has reinforced that we are at war, and that the laws of war should apply to these prisoners."

The second decision taken by President Obama was a reversal of his earlier announcement that he would not fight the ACLU over the release of photos that allegedly show prisoner abuse by U.S. soldiers.

The photos were about to be released under the Freedom of Information Act after the ACLU won a court decision in their favor last September.

Initially, the President through his subordinates had agreed to allow the pictures to be handed over at the end of this month, but he reversed himself last week after taking advice from CENTCOM commander General David Petraeus and Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who insisted that the release of the photos would make the jobs of our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq much more difficult and potentially put the lives at far greater risk than they are already.

Announcing the President's decision, White House Spokesman Robert Gibbs told reporters that, "The president does not believe that the strongest case regarding the release of these photos was presented to the court, and that was a case based on his concern about what the release of these would do to our national security."

We are, of course, very happy with both of these Presidential choices which, taken together with his firmness on fighting the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, show that he is sensibly continuing the wartime policies of former President Bush, albeit with a gentler touch.

We sincerely hope that he can continue along this path despite the cries of horror and looks of anxiety from his supporters on the hard-left of the political spectrum, who reacted with predictable bile when they heard of his decisions.

The safety of this nation and its people is too important an issue to play partisan politics with, and we encourage President Obama to continue listening to his military advisors and intelligence professionals before making decsion that could have fatal consequences.

So far, so good though and credit where credit is due, we have been pleasantly surprised by the President's actions thus far.

His economic record however is a different matter and we will be dealing with our objections and suggestions in these pages over the next few weeks, so stay tuned!