Indefinitely holding al Qaeda and other jihadis prisoners was certainly one of the many so-called crimes they hoped to charge him with.
President Obama promised a hope of change in this crime.
Ahem:
The Obama administration said Tuesday it could continue to imprison non-U.S. citizens indefinitely even if they have been acquitted of terrorism charges by a U.S. military commission.Jeh Johnson, the Defense Department's chief lawyer, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that releasing a detainee who has been tried and found not guilty was a policy decision that officials would make based on their estimate of whether the prisoner posed a future threat.
Like the Bush administration, the Obama administration argues that the legal basis for indefinite detention of aliens it considers dangerous is separate from war-crimes prosecutions. Officials say that the laws of war allow indefinite detention to prevent aliens from committing warlike acts in future, while prosecution by military commission aims to punish them for war crimes committed in the past.
Holding the prisoners until the war is over is certainly legal and wise. As it was under Bush. So kudos to the Obama administration for adjusting a political promise when confronted with actual national security concerns.
But at least President Bush didn't hold pointless show trials in the middle of their detention.
How long before Obama's most leftist supporters peel off their "Os" from their bumpers and slap on the "Don't Blame Me--I Voted for Nader" stickers?
