During the presidential campaign, Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain both promised to close the detention center for terrorists at Guantanamo. One week after Obama became president-elect, that promise was back in the news as some of his advisers said that one of the new administration's top priorities would be closing down the facility.

That is good news. The "temporary" facility has been a black eye for this nation since the first detainees were taken there in early 2002. Almost immediately, pictures of blindfolded, shackled captives in orange jumpsuits kneeling behind heavy fencing in the hot sun were flashed around the world. Just as quickly, the image of the United States as the world's most ardent defender of human rights was replaced by what was viewed, particularly in the Arab world, as a violator of long-established international law, including the Geneva Conventions.

Abu Ghraib, in 2004, further contributed to that image. Closing Guantanamo likely would go a long way in helping to re-establish the United States' good name around the world.

There is little doubt that many of the 255 men still held at Guantanamo are or were a threat to America's security. But what about the 60 who have been cleared for release? And, so far, only 18 have been charged.

But the Obama advisers who have spoken on this issue realize that closing the facility will not be easy. The most obvious question is what to do with those in detention. Transferring them to a U.S. facility would be a first step. But then the first of many legal questions come to the fore: Does the government try those already charged in civilian or military courts, or does it establish a new court? How is evidence obtained under torture dealt with? And on and on.

For those cleared, are they released to their home countries (many of which have refused to take them)? Does the United States have an obligation to take in some, such as the Chinese Uighurs, who the government has said are not enemy combatants?

These are huge problems. Still, beginning the process of closing Guantanamo in the name of justice and to restore America's tarnished human rights reputation must be a top priority for Obama.

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