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• Thursday, November 20, 2008 04:20 PM

  Thor likes Pizza

  "Thor likes Pizza" wrote:

  Waiting for the RW Screetchwads
  Wonder how the RW screetchwads will present this ruling to their thirsty-for-truth nation?
  - - Thor likes Pizza - - Thursday, November 20, 2008 11:48 AM

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  At least one RW crackpot is screeching - - yet again - - that it's OUTRAGEOUS for JUDGES to do JUDGING.

  Here's today reaction from Andrew C. McCarthy at NR.

  (He's the guy who wrote an editorial in USA Today, three years ago, saying that of course nobody likes "torture" but really we should all support the Bush administration's use of "harsh interrogation methods".)

  Interestingly, he starts out, in today's reaction, by mildly bashing the administration of which he's been a mindless follower.

  But whatever the new cracks in his previous belief in presidential infallibility, he reverts to repeating his old complaint that military authority (including the C-in-C one supposes) should be absolute and should never be questioned by a mere judge.

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  http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=OGMzNzBiNWZlNjlkZjNmNDc0Y2IzMjA4ZWMwZDg1N2I=

  the corner [Andy McCarthy]

  [...] It seems pretty clear that the Bush administration did not help matters here. Nearly seven years ago, the President publicly claimed the Algerians were planning a bomb attack on the U.S. embassy in Sarajevo. Last month, however, the Justice Department suddenly informed the Court that it was no longer relying on that information. We've seen this sort of thing happen too many times over the last seven years, and the effect can only be to reduce the confidence of the court and the public that the government is in command of the relevant facts and can be trusted to make thoughtful decisions.

  All that said, though, Judge Leon concluded that “[t]o rest [combatant detention] on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with this court’s obligation.” That is puzzling. There is nothing in the training of a judge that makes him an expert in military matters. In our system of divided government, the question of who is an enemy combatant should be committed to the executive brach — specifically, to the military professionals waging the war. If there is any evidence supporting the military's wartime decision to detain (and, to reiterate, Judge Leon said there was sufficient evidence to hold these men for intelligence purposes), the court should defer to the military judgment.

  In any event, the Times reports that Leon "directed that the five men be released 'forthwith' and urged the government not to appeal." The government is considering its appellate options. Meanwhile, one can only hope that either Algeria or some other country is willing to take these guys. Otherwise, we are in the same fix presented by the Uighur case (which will be argued on appeal next week): facing the prospect of jihadists being released into the United States.

  - - Andy McCarthy

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  —sysprog Read sysprog's other letters
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