President Barack Obama, on his first full day in the office, has managed to draw the ire of family members of those killed on September 11, 2001, and in other terror attacks.  The rookie president’s executive draft  order Wednesday calls for closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility within a year and halting any war crimes trials in the meantime.  In response to the Obama order, a judge halted the case against a Canadian detainee accused of killing an American soldier in Afghanistan, and issued a 120-day continuance in the case.

According to the language of the draft order, closing Guantanamo

“would further the national security and foreign policy interests of the United States and the interests of justice.”

Many 9/11 family members disagree, including Peter Gadiel, the father of James Gadiel, who was killed at the World Trade Center on 9/11:

“To me it’s beyond comprehension that they would take the side of the terrorists. Many of these people have been released and been right back killing, right back at their terrorist work again.”

The Obama order has relatives of three of the Sept. 11 victims in limbo. They had journeyed to Guantanamo at the invitation of the U.S. military to observe pretrial hearings in the case of five men charged in the plot, each one facing the death penalty. The five invited relatives oppose the actions – or rather the inaction – resulting from the inexperienced president’s order:

“Though the wheels are grinding, they are turning here and this place must remain open and justice must be served,” Andrew Arias, whose brother, Adam, was killed in the attacks, told reporters at the base Monday.

“If not here, where?” said Arias, of South River, N.J. “Keep it open, let’s get the job done.”

It’s not only family members who aren’t exactly feeling the love for the nation’s new president today. Former Cmdr. Kirk Lippold, who lost 17 sailors who were under his command  to the terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000, told Fox News:

“There is no need to suspend [the military tribunals]. There is no reason why [Obama] can’t conduct a concurrent review at the same time that the military commission process is moving forward to render justice for the terrorists that have murdered thousands of people.”

A suspect in the Cole case is currently in captivity at Gitmo.

Meanwhile, Sen. Jack Murtha (Duh-PA) has volunteered to house prisoners from Guantanamo Bay in his congressional district after the Obaministration closes Gitmo:

“Sure, I’d take ‘em,” said Murtha, an outspoken critic of the Iraq war. “They’re no more dangerous in my district than in Guantanamo.”

Only one small problem with that. The only prison in Murtha’s district is a minimum security facility.

All in all, a terrific first day in office for The One. He’s managed to chap off many of those who lost loved ones or bothers in arms to terrorism, and he has fools like Murtha spouting dangerous things again. The olde pharte had been keeping his mouth pretty much to himself lately, but there he goes again.

But worst of all, on the first day of his watch Obama has begun the process of making our nation less safe, something his predecessor worked so hard for so many years to prevent. This is just one of the reasons why so many of us feared the elevation of Obama to the presidency. He doesn’t understand national security, nor does he realize the potential consequences of his words and deeds.

- JP