World War 4 Report has been keeping a dispassionate record of Barack Obama's moves in dismantling, continuing and escalating (he has done all three) the oppressive apparatus of the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT) established by the Bush White House. On the first anniversary of his inauguration, we offer the following annotated assessment of which moves have been on balance positive, neutral and negative, and arrive at an overall score:

US Judge Ricardo Urbina ruled Jan. 19 that charges may be brought again against six individuals accused of massacring 17 people in Nisur Square, Baghdad, in 2007 while working for Blackwater Worldwide. The decision comes two weeks after a previous indictment was dismissed without prejudice.

A riot at the notoriously harsh Durango prison known as Social Readaption Center (CERESEO) No. 1 left 23 inmates dead and another 20 injured Jan. 20. Army troops were sent in to put down the violence, which supposedly involved members of the rival Gulf Cartel and Sinaloa Cartel. (El Universal, AHN, Jan. 21)

The US is sending another 4,000 sailors and marines to Haiti for the earthquake relief mission, diverting them from deployments in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit and three-ship USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group would "significantly" increase the ability to quickly provide aid, the Navy said. The move will increase the number of US troops involved to about 16,000. (BBC News, Jan. 20)

Death squads returned to the streets of Baghdad with the first targeted killing of civilians in the city for more than two years, Iraqi media reported Jan. 19. Masked gunmen walked into the office of the Mawteni charitable foundation in a Sunni part of central Baghdad and executed five employees. They also left behind a car bomb at the entrance of the building, which exploded when police arrived on the scene, injuring two officers. (London Times, Jan. 19)

Nigerian authorities imposed a curfew in the north-central city of Jos on Jan. 20 after four days of fighting between Muslims and Christians killed at least 200 people. Vice President Goodluck Jonathan deployed troops to Jos in one of his first acts of executive power since President Umaru Yar'Adua was hospitalised in Saudi Arabia with a heart condition in November. The troops have orders to shoot rioters on sight.

UK-based human rights group Reprieve issued a statement Jan. 19 suggesting that the Obama administration has suppressed information relating to the investigation of three 2006 Guantánamo Bay suicides and urging further inquiries. The statement comes in response to an article for the upcoming issue of Harper's Magazine, in which former guards at the prison indicate that the three prisoners experienced intense interrogations in a remote area of the base just hours before the deaths. According to the article, military personnel were instructed by a commanding officer that the media would be told that the deaths were suicides.

The federal trial of Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman with alleged ties to al-Qaeda, began Jan. 19 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Siddiqui is charged with assault and the attempted murder of a US officer after allegedly opening fire on agents at the Afghan detention facility where she was being held in July 2008. As soon as her trial began, Siddiqui became agitated and started screaming that she was innocent, causing her to be removed from the courtroom. Originally detained in Afghanistan because she was allegedly in possession of explosive chemicals and lists of New York City targets, Siddiqui has denied that she is part of any terrorist plot.