Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reports that the Young President's Administration may reverse itself on trying Gitmo detainees via military tribunal, and unleash the military prosecutors after all. Adhering to the Obama administration S.O.P., this tidbit was, of course, leaked on a Friday afternoon, without attribution:
But in recent days a variety of officials involved in the deliberations say
that after administration lawyers examined many of the cases, the mood shifted
toward using military commissions to prosecute some detainees, perhaps including
those charged with coordinating the Sept. 11 attacks.
“The more they look at it,” said one official, “the more commissions don’t
look as bad as they did on Jan. 20.”
Several officials insisted on anonymity because the administration has
directed that no one publicly discuss the deliberations.
Administration officials said Friday that some detainees would be
prosecuted in federal courts and noted that Mr. Obama had always left open the
possibility of using military commissions.
Still, during the presidential campaign Mr. Obama criticized the
commissions, saying that “by any measure our system of trying detainees has been
an enormous failure,” and declaring that as president he would “reject the
Military Commissions Act.”
Are we moving a little steeper up the terrorism learning curve, Mr. Y.P.?
The view from the Oval Office isn't quite as clear-cut as it was from the campaign trail, now, is it.
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