Why We Elected Him: Obama On Guantanamo And Torture

If you haven't yet seen the 60 Minutes interview with President-elect Barack Obama from Sunday, it's well worth the time to watch and one of my favorite sections was the unequivocal response Obama gave when Steve Kroft asked him about using his executive-order power to fulfill campaign promises about closing Guantanamo Bay and ending torture of detainees.

When Kroft mentioned Guantanamo and prevailing interrogation methods and asked Obama if those were things he planned "to take early action on," the president-elect's response was immediate and straightforward.

"Yes. I have said repeatedly that I intend to close Guantanamo, and I will follow through on that," said Obama. "I have said repeatedly that America doesn't torture. And I'm gonna make sure that we don't torture. Those are part and parcel of an effort to regain America's moral stature in the world."

Have a look:



Obama cannot waver on these things once in office and I would bet anything that he will not.

On Iraq, Obama also reinforced his promise to end that war saying "…I've stuck to this commitment, that as soon as I take office, I will call in the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my national security apparatus, and we will start executing a plan that draws down our troops."

This is the change we voted for and, even before January 20th, it's so good to see it already taking shape.