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.
Johnson said such prisoners held without trial would receive "some form of periodic review" that could lead to their release.
Personally, I have no problem with this position. But how will the whole "Bushitler" crowd handle that their messiah is taking a position that they should find even more morally repugnant. If Bush is equivalent to Hitler, where does that put Obama ??
Of course the answer will be that they are comfortable with hypocrisy. We'll see if this makes the editorial page of tomorrow's New York Times or the Washington Post --- but I wouldn't hold my breath. I wouldn't count on much moral outrage from Europe either. And will anyone ask if this policy creates new terrorists. Again, I am good with this policy and have no problem if they never see the light of day again.
And Bush should not get a free pass here either. By bowing to the left and establishing the whole military commission structure he acted irresponsibly. Since when do prisoners of war have a right to trial. And how is evidence supposed to be procured from the battlefield ?? It's a battlefield, not a crime scene.
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