I don't like this ruling, but it may have an up-side.

A military judge on Monday dismissed terrorism-related charges against a prisoner charged with killing an American soldier in Afghanistan, in a stunning reversal for the Bush administration's attempts to try Guantanamo detainees in military court.

The chief of military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay, Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan, said the ruling could spell the end of the war-crimes trial system set up last year by Congress and President Bush after the Supreme Court threw out the previous system. The ruling immediately raised questions about whether the U.S. will have to further revise procedures for prosecuting prisoners, leading to major delays.

Over at The Corner, there is serious concern.

Briefly, an enemy combatant can be any enemy soldier. Such a combatant is unlawful if he has not comported with the laws of war — including belonging to a regular army, wearing a uniform, carrying weapons openly, and not targeting civilians. It should have been easy enough to do this with al Qaeda detainees. If it really has not been done, however, that could be a big problem since it would presumably necessitate re-doing all of the combatant status review tribunals before commissions could go forward.

The government is going to appeal. That, too, could be problematic according to the defense, which says they have only 72 hours to do so and the appellate court for commissions has not been constituted yet.

We don't know enough facts yet to make an assessment of what's going on here. Yet, if things are as the defense claims — and it bears remembering that very often they are not — this would be a demonstration of monumental incompetence. Let's hope that's not the case. Stay tuned.

Actually, this could be the worst thing in the world -- for the detainees. Assuming that the government is stuck with the designation of these terrorists as enemy combatants and cannot change their status, there is a proper status for them -- PRISONERS OF WAR. As such, they would have no access to American courts, and can be held until the conclusion of hostilities -- so that they will not be released until the end of the War on Terror. So unless it is the intent of the Democrats to surrender in that larger conflict (and not just on the Iraqi front), these individuals can be kept safe and sound at Gitmo -- forever.

Posted by: Greg at 08:12 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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