Obama: Only Two Days to Make the US Less Safe

It took President Barack Obama a mere two days to make the United States less safe than we were on Tuesday.

With two executive orders, Obama approved the closing of the prison at Guantanamo Bay, and all such facilities throughout the world, despite the fact that he has no idea of what to do with the terrorists detained there. He then announced that the U.S. will no longer torture terrorist subjects.

The speculation is that some terrorists will be released to "countries that want them." If no other country wants them, do we get them by default?

Others will be tried in "modified military commissions." Whatever that is (we can say that quite often regarding Obama's plans).

The rest of the detainees, those who can't be released or tried, will face a "national security court," again yet to be defined.

A correspondent for McClatchy Newspapers unwittingly gave the most essential reason why these terrorists cannot be tried in a non-military court:

The detainees had access only to the unclassified evidence against them, and they had no way to challenge it. Military officials told them nothing of other evidence that might be responsible for their detention.

If these detainees are tried in a civilian court, they will have to be provided classified intelligence and military information, or they will walk. And, of course, the classified information will be revealed in court or otherwise leaked to the press. That will do untold damage to the war on terror.

Reports indicate that many Guantanamo detainees who have been released have indeed returned to the war against us.

AP reported today on an alleged statement from a Yemeni group known as "al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula," who claim "that group's No. 2 is a Saudi national who is a former Guantanamo detainee."

This, apparently, is nothing new.

The Washington Post reported in 2004 that one of the repatriated Guantanamo prisoners is still at large after taking leadership of a militant faction in Pakistan and aligning himself with al Qaeda, Pakistani officials said.

Meanwhile, Obama announced to the press -- and our enemies throughout the world -- that the U.S. can only use interrogation methods outlined in the Army Field Manual. This inexplicable pronouncement tells our enemies that U.S. soldiers and intelligence officials cannot use any extreme methods of interrogation, even to elicit information that could save American lives. How many terrorist captured in the future will talk, knowing that their interviewers are limited in what they can do to them.

In two quick strokes of a pen, Obama has made it easier for terrorists to do their job: killing us; and he made it harder for the military to do their job: protecting us from the people who want to kill us.

Obama: Change that Could Kill Us.

UPDATED: Is Obama Already Working in the Dark?

At a little after noontime on Tuesday, during his inauguration speech, Obama promised that he and his administration would do our business in the light of day as the best way to restore the vital trust between a people and their government.

However, less than 12 hours later, the new president put into play his first policy, ordering the closure of Guantanamo Bay, in the dark of night.

Obama circulated a draft of the order after midnight this morning, apparently thinking the most important issues facing the United States are Club Gitmo and restricting the ability of intelligence official and others to interrogate terrorists.

Obama was so eager to appease the left-wingers by closing Gitmo, that his order will cloase the facility even though he has no plan for what to do with the terrorists stored there.

But the order, which one adviser said could be issued as early as Jan. 20, would start the process of deciding what to do with the estimated 250 al-Qaida and Taliban suspects.

Despite what one thinks about Guantanamo Bay, it seems to me that the prudent course would be to actually have a plan before enacting the plan.

Somehow, I am not comforted that our new president's first move in office, executed in the dead of night, will both appease the ACLU and help 245 Muslim terrorists get back to "work" killing innocents -- perhaps us.

Update: Also part of Obama's mission critical Day One activities, he might be ending the military tribunals for terrorists. I heard one report, uncorroborated, that the "mastermind" of the U.S.S. Cole bombing is among the terrorists who may not stand trial for his crimes. Thanks, Barack; the change we need, indeed...