On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled that President Bush had overstepped his authority in ordering military war crimes trials for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. Sorry, said the Court in a 5-3 decision (Roberts recused himself), no can do.
Weirdly enough, we have Osama bin Laden’s former chauffeur to thank for this. In Gitmo since 2001, he lawyered up and argued to the highest court in the land that Bush was being mean to him. The Court agreed and ruled that there could be no arbitrary military tribunals, the likes of which the Bush administration was planning. (By the way. Is there anybody that can’t get a case before the Supreme Court?)
Meanwhile, back in the caves, Hamdan’s former boss must be laughing himself silly right now. Bin Laden had just issued a tape praising Zarqawi. Now he’ll have to go right back to work and put out another tape praising the Supreme Court decision.
Nancy Pelosi, who’s been in a snarky funk ever since America decided to fight back against terrorism, and who was no doubt ecstatic over the Court’s ruling, declared in a statement that it “reaffirms the American ideal that all are entitled to the basic guarantees of our justice system.”
Sure, even al-Qaida terrorists who are connected to no specific country, wear no uniforms, are bound by no rules of war or morality, deliberately target innocent civilians for mass murder and whose own captives get their heads viciously hacked off. What proud American could possibly disagree with Nancy about this grand reaffirmation of American ideals?
All kidding aside, though, before all you pro-terrorist-rights fetishists (ACLU, New York Times, Democratic Party et al) start popping the champagne corks and doing a funky end zone dance, you need to understand a few things.
First, the Court ain’t closing Gitmo down. Second, the terrorists aren’t going to be released en masse. As President Bush so inelegantly but effectively put it, the ruling “won’t cause killers to be put out on the street.”
And third, as Justice Stephen Breyer actually said in his written opinion, “Nothing prevents the president from returning to Congress to seek the authority he believes necessary.” In other words, the president can still get legislation from Congress to authorize the military tribunals.
If that happens, the terrorist-sympathizing crowd is going to feel like a popped balloon, but Americans will ultimately be safer. Sounds like a plan to me.
Greg Strange provides conservative commentary with plenty of acerbic wit on the people, politics, events and absurdities of our time. See more at his website: http://www.greg-strange.com/
