Three Executive Orders on Torture, Gitmo Expected Tomorrow

ABC is reporting that Obama will sign three executive orders tomorrow:

According to a former Hill aide, the orders will:

∙ close the detainee camp at Guantanamo Bay within a year and establish a process by which the U.S. government figures out what to do with the remaining detainees;

∙ establish new rules on interrogation methods moving forward;

∙ establish new guidelines for the treatment of detainees moving forward.

The details on the interrogation methods and treatment of detainees orders are still murky. The AP obtained a copy of the Guantamo closing order draft and reports:

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration intends to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center within a year and halt military trials of terror suspects held there, according to a draft order obtained Wednesday.

The executive order was one of three expected imminently on how to interrogate and prosecute al-Qaida, Taliban or other foreign fighters believed to threaten the United States....

"In view of the significant concerns raised by these detentions, both within the United States and internationally, prompt and appropriate disposition of the individuals currently detained at Guantanamo and closure of the facility would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice," the draft order said.

It shouldn't take a year to close Guantanamo once a determination is made on how to proceed with prosecutions. The new administration has already identified as many as 120 of the detainees--nearly half of the total being held--who are considered low threat and would be unlikely to be prosecuted here. A handful of European countries have already expressed a willingness to at least consider taking former detainees, dismantling one hurdle the Bush administration and those trying to keep Gitmo open kept focusing on. As  Vincent Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, one of the organizations providing legal defense for detainees, states "It only took days to put these men in Guantanamo. It shouldn't take a year to get them out."

Stay tuned for the details of the other two orders.