Obama plunges into full agenda

U.S. President Barack Obama on Wednesday plunged into Middle East peace diplomacy on his first full day in office and looked poised to order the closing of the internationally condemned military detention camp at Guantanamo within a year.

Acting swiftly the day after his inauguration, Obama -- who had vowed a bolder pursuit of Israeli-Palestinian peace than his predecessor George W. Bush -- called Israeli and Arab leaders to commit to "active engagement" and to promise help in consolidating the Gaza ceasefire.

"He pledged that the United States would do its part to make these efforts successful, working closely with the international community and these partners as they fulfill their responsibilities as well," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

Obama's packed agenda, including summoning his economic and national security teams to confront the financial crisis and the unpopular Iraq war, signaled his intention of meeting his promises to break sharply with the Bush era.

Obama's quick foray into Middle East diplomacy coincided with circulation of an unsigned draft executive order that would require the closing by early 2010 of the Guantanamo prison opened by the Bush administration to house terrorism suspects.

The facility, which Obama had vowed to shut down, has been widely seen as a stain on America's moral standing in the world because of harsh interrogation methods that human rights groups said amounted to torture.

The Obama administration would also start an immediate review on how to deal with the remaining prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to the draft order obtained by Reuters.

Critics had faulted Bush for taking a largely hands-off approach to Middle East peacemaking for much of his eight years in office.

Obama spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah not long after he stepped into the Oval Office for the first time since his historic inauguration as the first black U.S. president.

He also announced a pay freeze for senior White House staff and tightening up rules concerning former lobbyists who work in government.

"During this period of economic emergency, families are tightening their belts and so should Washington," Obama said as he welcomed new staff members to the White House the day after he was sworn in.

"And that's why I am instituting a pay freeze on the salaries of my senior White House staff," he said.

Obama, who made government ethics reform and transparency major themes of his campaign, said he was putting in place strict new rules on former lobbyists who work in government.

He said he had set an order that would prohibit people who worked in the private sector as lobbyists from working on matters they previously lobbied on.

Obama also put in place a ban on gifts from lobbyists and promised much greater access for the public to government documents that are sensitive because of national security or privacy issues.