Guantanamo's closure within a year

President Barack Obama ordered the closing of Guantanamo prison on Thursday and named veteran troubleshooters for the Middle East and Afghanistan as he moved swiftly to repair America's tarnished image abroad.
In a flurry of activity focused squarely on rolling back some of predecessor George W. Bush's policies, Obama set a one-year deadline for shutting Guantanamo, barred harsh treatment of terrorism suspects held there and closed secret CIA jails overseas.
The prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba -- where prisoners have been detained for years without charge, some subjected to interrogation that human rights groups say amounted to torture -- had damaged America's moral standing in the world.
(In this photo, reviewed by the U.S. Military, a guard stands near the shadow of a detainee at Guantanamo's Camp 5 detention center, at the U.S. Naval Base, in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, January 21, 2009. )
"The world needs to understand that America will be unyielding in its defense of its security and relentless in its pursuit of those who would carry out terrorism or threaten the United States," Obama said after signing a series of orders.
(U.S. President Barack Obama speaks after signing an executive order closing the military prison at the U.S. military base in Guantanamo, Cuba, in the Oval Office on second official day at White House in Washington, January 22, 2009. REUTERS/Larry Downing)
But he said his new administration wanted to send "an unmistakable signal that our actions in defense of liberty will be (as) just as our cause."
While working behind closed doors with advisers to confront the worst financial crisis in decades, Obama used his early public appearances to put foreign policy and national security on the front burner.
"We can no longer afford drift and we no longer can afford delay," Obama said as he waded into the thicket of diplomacy with a visit to the State Department to preside over the announcements of new conflict envoys.
Former Sen. George Mitchell, a seasoned diplomat, was named to help revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, which Bush was criticized for failing to give enough attention.
Obama seized the opportunity to pledge to "actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians, as well as Israel and its Arab neighbors" and work to ensure a durable ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
He made a point of backing Israel's "right to defend itself" against cross-border Hamas rocket fire, but also said it was "intolerable" for Palestinians, who want a state of their own, to face a "future without hope."
Former U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke was appointed the first U.S. envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan, a region he called "the central front" in the battle against terrorism.
Obama has ordered a full review of U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, where he has pledged to boost troop levels. Osama bin Laden is believed to be hiding in the remote, mountainous border region of Pakistan near Afghanistan.
McCain: Closing Guantanamo Bay prison is the easy part

(CNN) — President Obama is facing greater challenges than any other president and may have made a hasty decision to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp without considering all of the repercussions, Sen. John McCain told CNN’s Larry King Thursday night.
“When Franklin Delano Roosevelt came to the presidency, it was economic challenges. We clearly faced the rise of Hitler and fascism, but early on it was mainly domestic issues,” McCain said.
But Obama has in front of him two wars, a crisis in the Middle East and a domestic economic crisis.
“This president faces domestic challenges and the national security challenges, so he’s got a big job,” said McCain, appearing on “Larry King Live.”