Proof positive that President Obama is making changes for the good: Executive Order– Ensuring Lawful Interrogations.
This is a massively important step. Although Guantánamo is going to close this year we don’t yet know what will happen to the prisoners. Detention without trial on mainland USA is not very different to detention in Cuba.
I’m not so hopeful that this will mean the end of mistreatment of prisoners overnight, but while it may not be of much comfort to those suffering there I think there is a big difference between authorised and unauthorised abuse. When the ‘leader of the free world’ believes that torture is acceptable the moral high ground over what are considered terrorist groups is lost.