Closing in on a 100
days: Are some expecting too much?
Le
Monde, France
'Fussy' Rights Groups 'Wrong' to Be Impatient with Obama
"In the area of international justice, some are being fussy. Admittedly, they say, there have been advances, but not enough. Some 'significant progress,' summarizes Human Rights Watch, but also some faux pas. ... Human rights organizations are fulfilling their role. But they're wrong to be so impatient."
President Obama shows off his own Florida Gators jersey as the NCAA champs visit the White House, April 23. With Obama nearing the 100-days-in-office mark, people around the world are gauging his performance.
On
April 30, the Obama Administration will have been in place for 100 days. It's time
for a preliminary assessment. In the area of international justice, some are
being fussy. Admittedly, they say, there have been advances, but not enough. Some
"significant progress," summarizes Human Rights Watch, but also some faux pas.
On
the progress side is the prohibition of torture, the closure of secret prisons wherever
they remain, the order to CIA for the agency to limit its techniques of interrogation
to those in force in the Army, and the creation of a crisis group charged with
finding solutions for the closing of Guantanamo. More generally, Mr. Obama has
transferred the counter-terrorism struggle from the Pentagon to the Department
of Justice.
On
the faux pas side, the defenders of human rights cite the Democratic
president's refusal to grant habeas corpus to
detainees at the Bagram prison in Afghanistan, some
of whom, it is certain, were not arrested on the "field of battle,"
and so are in a juridical black hole comparable to the one at Guantanamo. They
are also surprised at his refusal to once and for all forbid the CIA to spirit away
suspects anywhere in the world - and into the arms of local authorities.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
And
another reproach materialized this week: his refusal to create a commission to investigate
torture. While he himself made the decision to publish memoranda drawn up
between 2002 and 2005 by Bush Administration jurists, Mr. Obama stands accused of allowing
himself to be intimidated by the Republicans.
For
now, Mr. Obama prefers "looking toward the future." He doesn't want
to appear as a man of division and revenge. Above all, he wants to avoid having
the spotlight anywhere other than on his economic and diplomatic policies. For
the economy to start growing again, he needs confidence to return. His efforts
are perhaps not in vain: a majority of Americans think that the country is
going in the right direction.
Human
rights organizations are fulfilling their role. But they're wrong to be so
impatient. In making the decision - against the advice of some of his advisers
- to publish the memos authorizing the use of waterboarding,
which is a mock drowning, Barack Obama has launched a virtuous circle that will
be difficult to stop. The proof: The Pentagon is getting ready to publish
photos of the degrading treatment suffered by detainees in Iraq. What other democracy
would do as much?
