President-elect Barack Onama is eyeing on an order to close the U.S militart prison at Guantanamo Bay. This is a possibility to be decided on the initial week of Obama to show deviation from Bush administration’s approach to the was on terrorism.

Transition officials stated that it would be keeping Obama’s promise last campaign elections. The decision to shut down the prison will be pushed through through an exectuive order.

“The president-elect has repeatedly said the legal framework at Gitmo has failed to successfully and swiftly prosecute terrorists,” said one of the officials close to the transition, who was not authorized to speak publicly about private deliberations.

“It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize and we are going to get it done, but part of the challenge that you have is that you have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom who may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial or have not gone through some adjudication,” as what Obama said on ABC’s “This Week” last Sunday when inquired whether he would close the prison in his immediate transition.

“I think it’s going to take some time and our legal teams are working in consultation with our national security apparatus as we speak, to help design exactly what we need to do,” Obama said.

“But I don’t want to be ambiguous about this. We are going to close Guantanamo and we are going to make sure that the procedures we set up are ones that abide by our Constitution,” he said.

The Guantanamo Bay Prison is a major issue in the past since it has become a symbol of mismanagement in US’ campaign towards war on terrorism

At his final White House press conference on Monday, President Bush was asked whether the military prison and harsh interrogation tactics have damaged America’s standing in the world. iReport.com: What should Obama do first?
“I strongly disagree with the assessment that our moral standing has been damaged,” Bush said. “It may be damaged amongst some of the elite. But people still understand America stands for freedom; that America is a country that provides such great hope.” (cnn.com)

President-eclect Barack Obama will be announcing the names of the newest Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officials this Friday. Some of the soon-to-be proclaimed officials are Leon Panetta, who will be in-charge of the whole agency, as CIA Director and Dennis Blair as the National Intelligence Director.

Former CIA official Jhon Brennan will also be namedas the White House homeland secturity adviser and deputy national security adviser for counterterrorism.

The following proclamation will be held at an event in Washington. This event will be attended by Panetta and Blair. Brennan will be out of the scene by then.

As the new homeland security adviser of the White House, Brennan will be assigned also to review whether the Homeland Security Council, which was created after the September 11 tragedy, will be folded into the National Securtiy Council or will remain a separate entity ion the White House.

The transition committee stated that Brennan will be holding the title of assistant to the president after the proclamation. Thus, all reports will be given directly to President-elect Obama.

Meanwhile, there will be posts inthe agency that will remain filled by the current CIA officials, this includes Deputy irector Stephen Kepps.

Panetta heads CIA

The Obama transition team has been unexpectedly surpised by how hundreds of thousands of resumes have been submitted in lieu to the different positions available in Obama’s administration.

Obama transition spokesman Nick Shapiro stated that they’ve actually had more than 300,00 expresions of interest.

This certain expressions entirely outclassed that of Bush’s tranisition before he was inaugurated in January 2001. Bush only goit 44,000 applicants. A large difference if compared to the current stat Obama’s transition team has. Another figure to compare was that of Clinton’s transition team in 1993. It was reported that his had 100,000 before his actual inauguration day. Still, a two-thirds smaller than Obama’s.

This improved the improvement of job search in the country. CareerPro GLobal, a national and international resume-writing company, has seen a big chunk of interest from those who wants to work in ther federal government. And this has not only observed from public servants but also from those experts who used to work in a private company.

“A lot have had to dust off their resumes,” Scott Kirk, who manages the company, said. “I’m talking people that have been in their professions 10, 20 years. So [Obama] has definitely stimulated something.”

Another prestige job recruiter in Washington also felt the same trend. Nels Olson of Korn/Ferry International said that this has benn one of the most active transitions in presidency in tems of the sheer volume of applicants.

Unfortunately, Obama’s administration would only fill up an estimated 8,000 presidentially appointed jobs from the ever-growing 300,000 applicants. Thus, an extensive job selections will be imposed upon the transition directors of the team.

WASHINGTON — Republican 2008 White House front-runner Rudolph Giuliani Friday fired a first, biting attack at top Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton, accusing her “spewing venom” at America’s commander in Iraq.In a preview of a possible 2008 general election match-up, the former New York mayor took out a full page-advertisement in the New York Times rebuking Clinton over the unpopular war.

Then he debuted his first Internet advertisement of the campaign, accusing the former first lady of turning her back on US troops, after voting to authorize the war in Iraq in 2002, and now demanding an end to the conflict.

The advertisement juxtaposed Clinton’s arguments favoring the case against former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein during the debate over whether to go to war in late 2002, with her criticisms of Petraeus this week over Iraq.Clinton said during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services committee on Tuesday that both Petraeus and US ambassador to Baghdad Ryan Crocker had been unfairly saddled with the job of being war spokesmen for Bush.

Clinton has said if she knew in 2002 what she knows now about Saddam’s lack of weapons of mass destruction, she would not have voted to authorize the war.She has also argued that she expected Bush to use the authority he was given by Congress to bolster the US negotiating position and reach a diplomatic solution to the Iraq crisis, rather than driving quickly to war.

Her vote on Iraq had been seen as a threat to her White House aspirations, but she has escaped major political damage, and enjoys a wide lead in national polls of the Democratic race.

By INQUIRER

WASHINGTON – President Bush said Thursday night conditions on the ground in Iraq have improved sufficiently to start bringing some U.S. troops home, and urged Americans divided over the war to “come together.” In a televised speech to the nation, Bush said he would reduce U.S. force strength by 5,700 troops by Christmas and, by next July, reduce the number of combat brigades from 20 to 15 — a decrease of roughly 30,000 troops.

The first step in that process will come later this month, when 2,200 Marines leaving Anbar province will not be replaced, the president said

“The principle guiding my decisions on troop levels in Iraq is ‘return on success’ — the more successful we are, the more American troops can return home,” Bush said during a 17-minute prime-time address from the Oval Office. “In all we do, I will ensure that our commanders on the ground have the troops and flexibility they need to defeat the enemy.”

By CNN