A Step in the Right Direction

The New York Times reported that President Obama signed an order today to have use of all "secret prisons and detention camps," including the camp at Guantánamo Bay, terminated by this time next year. The article, by Scott Shane, reports however that the president has not made decisions about certain sticky details, such as where to send dangerous prisoners, whether or not to keep some interrogation methods secret so that future prisoners cannot be trained on how to resist them and where to send prisoners that cannot be kept in the US so that they are not tortured. 

This is the second time thus far that I've heard of Obama keeping his mouth closed about difficult issues. The first was his lack of comment about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My first instinct was to worry that critics would see this as indecisiveness, and I even caught myself - I'm not sure what to call it - not worrying, but almost being skeptical of...something. I couldn't pinpoint it. I think it's that I want Obama to succeed so badly that I'm afraid his critics and skeptics are going to pounce at even the smallest, most insignificant sign of weakness or indecisiveness. 

Then I remembered: an era of responsibility and patience. These are not small issues, nor are they issues with clear or easy solutions. The decision to close the prisons and detention camps in and of itself is a big deal after eight years of immoral interrogation methods, and a year is not a long time. In fact, it almost seems somewhat ambitious when I give it some thought. 

I've proved to myself tonight that I do need to make sure I remain patient. It's been 54 hours or so since Obama was sworn into office, and I believe he's already begun turning the US back in the direction its founders intended it to travel.

-ZMG

Read the full New York Times article here.