Europe cheers as Obama ends Bush's 'war on terror'[fr][de] 

With the stroke of a pen, Obama brought an end to the "war on terror" as previous president George W. Bush had defined it, signalling that the US government will not breach international or US law in battling its enemies. 

Key components of the structure developed under the Bush administration have now been abolished. As expected, Obama ordered the closure of the controversial Guantánamo detention camp (EurActiv 13/01/09), while the CIA is now prohibited from maintaining its own prisons overseas, which irked the EU during the former US administration (EurActiv 23/04/07). 

In a sign of his determination to make diplomacy a stronger tool, Obama went to the State Department yesterday (23 January), a day after the US Senate voted to confirm Hillary Clinton's nomination as secretary of state. 

Obama installed two heavyweights in the State Department to handle the Middle East crisis and the situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Obama and Clinton jointly introduced George J. Mitchell, special envoy for the Middle East, and Richard Holbrooke, who will fulfil the role for Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

Mitchell, a former Senate majority leader, helped broker a peace agreement in Northern Ireland, while Holbrooke, a longtime diplomat and formerly America's ambassador to the UN, played a central role in drafting the 1995 Dayton peace accords, which ended the war in Bosnia. 

EU to help the new US president 

In the meantime, EU foreign ministers are preparing to meet on Monday in Brussels, when they are expected to discuss how to help the US administration to close Guantánamo by accepting former detainees on their soil. 

No common EU position is expected, because some countries have ruled out accepting Guantánamo detainees. But Portugal, Ireland, France, Germany and some other countries are considering granting asylum status to released detainees for whom a return to their home countries may pose threats to their safety. 

The Czech EU Presidency issued a statement welcoming Obama's decision to close Guantánamo and to put an end to particularly harsh interrogation techniques previously used on terrorist suspects. 

"We believe that the decision has great symbolic and practical significance, and could facilitate strengthening transatlantic counter-terrorism and security cooperation, based on the respect of international law and human rights," the statement reads. 

(With agencies.) 

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg issued a statement calling on EU countries to help Obama close Guantánamo. 

"While the United States created the Guantánamo problem and has the primary responsibility for correcting the injustices, there are strong arguments for European assistance in closing Guantánamo Bay," Hammarberg states. 

"To achieve this goal, Council of Europe member states should stand ready to receive some of those remaining detainees who cannot go back home for fear of persecution and torture if returned. Giving such an offer would be both the right thing to do and of critical importance in our attempts to push for the prompt closure of Guantánamo Bay," the statement further reads. 

Sarah Ludford MEP (UK Liberal Democrats), a member of the Parliament's civil liberties, justice and home affairs committee who was the EU assembly's rapporteur on Guantánamo and vice-chair of its temporary committee on extraordinary rendition, issued a statement welcoming the executive order issued by Barack Obama on his first day in office. 

"I pressed both the EU counter-terrorism coordinator and the Czech Interior Minister [acting on behalf of the EU presidency] yesterday during their hearings in the EP civil liberties committee to secure urgent and decisive offers by EU countries to help the US administration close Guantánamo, by giving residence to released detainees who cannot safely be returned to their home countries. EU foreign ministers next Monday must authorise EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot and Czech representatives, when they visit the US, to deliver a message of serious assistance from the EU," Ludford said. 

CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) Director Mike Hayden issued a statement pledging to comply with the US president's order, setting out new instructions for the detention, rendition and interrogation of captured terrorist suspects. 

"When our government changes its law or policy, we will follow that direction without exception, carve-out or loophole," Hayden states, instructing his personnel: "As intelligence professionals, you, the men and women of CIA, will make the best possible use of the space the Republic has given us to act boldly and bravely in its defence. I have every confidence in your enduring ability to do so, honoring, as always, the laws and values of the democracy we faithfully serve."