SCOTUS has found that the Guantanamo Detainees may not be tried by military courts. Huge, huge news.
Further, it finds they must be held in accord with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. That means, the torture issue is dead. There is no alacrity here. No Justice departement or US Army guidelines matter any longer.
Reaction to the ruling can be seen here.
Some are calling it a "huge political gift". I'm inclined to agree. This is going to suck the air out of the Kos kids as well as Andrew Sullivan.
I supported the administrations use of military trials in order to keep information secret. The first World Trade Center bombing pulled the curtain back on sources and methods that were subsequently burned and hampered out ability to track terrorists and listen to their communications.
I did not support torture of detainees. Nor did I think there was anything wrong with strong interogations. The problem, as we have seen, is finding and holding that line. On the one hand we had instances of stress positions, beatings etc. The over-correction came when interogators were told they cannot slam an open palm on the table as it was "too threatening". Likewise they were not able to reward a prisoner who agreed to talk by giving him a view of the ocean. This was deemed to be unfair to the other captors. There has to be a middle ground.
I expect a few things to happen in the wake of this decision:
1. Appointment of special masters will increase dramatically. Legislators will rush legislation through to help shield the sources and methods of collection prior to trial.
2. Renditions will increase dramatically and likely from the battlefield. A great many foreign fighters will be turned over to the Iraqis. They have fewer qualms about torture. This will likely result in a good cop/bad cop routine when terrorists are captured.
Expect the NYT to headline as many secret methods of intelligence gathering as possible.
Further, it finds they must be held in accord with Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions. That means, the torture issue is dead. There is no alacrity here. No Justice departement or US Army guidelines matter any longer.
Reaction to the ruling can be seen here.
Some are calling it a "huge political gift". I'm inclined to agree. This is going to suck the air out of the Kos kids as well as Andrew Sullivan.
I supported the administrations use of military trials in order to keep information secret. The first World Trade Center bombing pulled the curtain back on sources and methods that were subsequently burned and hampered out ability to track terrorists and listen to their communications.
I did not support torture of detainees. Nor did I think there was anything wrong with strong interogations. The problem, as we have seen, is finding and holding that line. On the one hand we had instances of stress positions, beatings etc. The over-correction came when interogators were told they cannot slam an open palm on the table as it was "too threatening". Likewise they were not able to reward a prisoner who agreed to talk by giving him a view of the ocean. This was deemed to be unfair to the other captors. There has to be a middle ground.
I expect a few things to happen in the wake of this decision:
1. Appointment of special masters will increase dramatically. Legislators will rush legislation through to help shield the sources and methods of collection prior to trial.
2. Renditions will increase dramatically and likely from the battlefield. A great many foreign fighters will be turned over to the Iraqis. They have fewer qualms about torture. This will likely result in a good cop/bad cop routine when terrorists are captured.
Expect the NYT to headline as many secret methods of intelligence gathering as possible.
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