Obama orders Guantanamo shut

By Matt Spetalnick and David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama ordered the closing of Guantanamo prison on Thursday and named veteran troubleshooters for the Middle East and Afghanistan as he moved swiftly to repair America's tarnished image abroad.

In a flurry of activity focussed squarely on rolling back some of predecessor George W. Bush's policies, Obama set a one-year deadline for shutting Guantanamo, barred harsh treatment of terrorism suspects held there and closed secret CIA jails overseas.

The prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba -- where prisoners have been detained for years without charge, some subjected to interrogation that human rights groups say amounted to torture -- had damaged America's moral standing in the world.

"The world needs to understand that America will be unyielding in its defence of its security and relentless in its pursuit of those who would carry out terrorism or threaten the United States," Obama said after signing a series of orders.

But he said his new administration wanted to send "an unmistakable signal that our actions in defence of liberty will be (as) just as our cause."

While working behind closed doors with advisers to confront the worst financial crisis in decades, Obama used his early public appearances to put foreign policy and national security on the front burner.

"We can no longer afford drift and we no longer can afford delay," Obama said as he waded into the thicket of diplomacy with a visit to the State Department to preside over the announcements of new conflict envoys.

Former Sen. George Mitchell, a seasoned diplomat, was named to help revive stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts, which Bush was criticized for failing to give enough attention.