US President Barack Obama has made significant progress in his first year in office toward ending the Bush administration’s abusive counterterrorism policies, but he has also made some serious missteps.

Within days of taking office in January 2009, President Barack Obama issued executive orders that repudiated key elements of the Bush administration's abusive approach to fighting terrorism. By changing course in such a swift and high-profile way, President Obama appeared to signal a new and reformed counterterrorism policy, one consistent with basic US values and with international law. But in the months that followed this promising start, the administration chose to retain a number of the previous administration's most problematic policies, albeit in modified form.

The Obama administration should commemorate Guantanamo’s eighth anniversary tomorrow by renewing its pledge to close the prison quickly and responsibly. Prisoners implicated in crimes should be charged and brought to trial before federal courts, and the remainder should be sent home or resettled in other countries.

Last month Attorney General Eric Holder announced that some Guantanamo detainees will be tried in federal court while others will face military commissions. Holder assured the American public that military commissions will be “consistent with our highest standards as a nation.” I am afraid he will be disappointed.

The US government should release in full the military investigative reports into the deaths of three prisoners at Guantanamo in June 2006. A Seton Hall University study issued today raises questions about the US military’s findings that the deaths were suicides.

Prosecutors, defense counsel, a military judge, several journalists and a handful of non-governmental organization observers like myself convened at Guantanamo Bay this week for what was to be the first hearing for a Guantanamo defendant under the Obama administration's "new and improved" military commissions.

Obama administration’s decision to prosecute the September 11 suspects in federal court represents an important step forward for justiceObama administration’s decision to prosecute the September 11 suspects in federal court represents an important step forward for justice.

The award of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize to US President Barack Obama should encourage him to apply his stated principles to both foreign and domestic human rights policy.