AP: Advisors say Obama preparing order to close Gitmo (click title to article - thank you)
By LARA JAKES
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON -- Advisers to President-elect Barack Obama say one of his first duties in office will be to order the closing of the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay. That executive order is expected during Obama's first week on the job - and possibly on his first day, according to two transition team advisers. Both spoke Monday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly....
It isn't whether there was torture or not, we know there was. It is this blemish on American esteem will be removed and there will be trials for those that are truly responsible for murder and conspiracy.
An Army officer who investigated possible abuse at Guantanamo Bay after some guards purportedly bragged about beating detainees found no evidence they mistreated the prisoners — although he did not interview any of the alleged victims, the U.S. military said Wednesday.
...The investigation centers around Marine Lt Col Colby Vokey, who represents a detainee at the US naval base in eastern Cuba. Vokey filed a "hotline" complaint last October, attaching a sworn statement from his paralegal, Sgt Heather Cerveny, 23, in which she said several guards in a bar at Guantanamo Bay bragged about beating detainees and described it as common practice. "Others were talking about how when they get annoyed with the detainees, about how they hit them, or they punched them in the face," Sgt Cerveny said during a telephone interview.... (click here)
