First business: Shutting down Gitmo

President Obama has wasted no time getting down to business. One of his first official acts, late last night, was a 120-day suspension of proceedings at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba -- with a view to ceasing the hearings all together. Obama has said that he would like the process replaced with something "better." Whether that winds up being courts martial under the Uniform Code of Military Justice or civilian trials is yet to be decided and it will take about a year to wind up the current kangaroo courts and jails.

But at least the end is near. In one particular case, Omar Khadr can actually get something like a real trial and not one based on tainted evidence. At least now we know why Maher Arar still can't get into the US -- it's because Khadr apparently was coerced into saying Arar was in Afghanistan when in fact he was nowhere near South Asia at the time.

Frankly, it's hard to know what if anything the vast majority of detainees could be charged with if anything at all. Violating the "customs of war," maybe -- but don't most countries, even democracies, do that on a daily basis on the battlefield even if inadvertently? Why aren't Western countries held to the same standards? Do you see Canadian soldiers, or British ones, being held in stockades for years at a time without a set trial date? And are any of them facing a life sentence for being in the wrong place at the wrong time or for just joining an insurrection?

Most of the "terrorists" arrested during the Bush administration, the vast majority, were in fact not terrorists at all but people who were being held for immigration irregularities. The mean sentence in the so-called "War on Terror" against such suspects -- fourteen days. Not years, days. Is it possible that innocent people who were rounded up have become terrorists in that time due to resentment of being detained for so long?

They could only get six months for Osama's chaffeur, for heaven's sake!

I think this is the right place to start -- to say that America is a nation of laws and that it will abide by the rules of habeas corpus for everyone, even those accused of being the worst of the worst.

Promise made, promise kept. Good job, sir.

UPDATE (10:01 am EST, 1501 GMT): An earlier version of this post made reference to Barack Obama's driver. Of course, I meant Osama Bin Laden. That's as bad as getting Benny Hill and Benny Hinn mixed up -- which I have.

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