Day Six: Git The Mo Outta Here

President Obama promised change during his campaign, and after the inaugural balls were over, he got to work on reversing some of the excesses of the Bush years. The most important so far are the executive orders that the President signed, which would close down Guantanamo Bay prison within a year, and that the practice of torturing terrorism suspects has been suspended.

That's all well and good. But the question now becomes what to do about the 245 detainees who were plucked out of nowhere after the 9/11/01 attacks, without so much as an attorney, or any idea what they were charged with. Security concerns would preclude trying and imprisoning them in this country, whether they're considered dangerous or not. And what other country would want to take them on? Does Obama have a secret location in mind?

As for the torture thing, Obama decided to take the moral high ground on this one. No more waterboarding, or any of the other tactics the government must've cribbed from watching episodes of 24. The Geneva convention will no longer be treated like it was ancient history. Instead, getting suspects to spill the beans about when the next attack might come will be handled differently. They won't say how, but for a rough idea, watch any TV crime show.

Of course, this doesn't mean the war on terror is over. There's still Iraq and Afghanistan to deal with. You'll still be searched from head to toe at airports. They'll continue to listen to your e-mails and phone calls, tracking down the would-be terrorist who just ordered a pizza with everything on it. And they'll still be searching for Osama bin Laden and his minions. It takes more than closing down a despised prison to make Americans feel safer.