Obama May Revive Military Tribunals at Gitmo

Ah, reality!

This is going to piss off a bunch of people.

U.S. May Revive Guatanamo Military Courts (New York Times)

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantanamo detainees, which was a target of critics during the Bush administration, including Mr. Obama himself.

Officials said the first public moves could come as soon as next week, perhaps in filings to military judges at the United States naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, outlining an administration plan to amend the Bush administration’s system to provide more legal protections for terrorism suspects.

[SNIP]

Officials who work on the Guantánamo issue say administration lawyers have become concerned that they would face significant obstacles to trying some terrorism suspects in federal courts. Judges might make it difficult to prosecute detainees who were subjected to brutal treatment or for prosecutors to use hearsay evidence gathered by intelligence agencies.

Or, as some typically unnamed source told the NYT:

“The more they look at it,” said one official, “the more commissions don’t look as bad as they did on Jan. 20.”

Heh!

Now if they'd only look at the prison itself and realize that releasing scores of trained terrorists onto the streets of America is not a viable option for social stability, then perhaps Guantanamo could fully serve a useful purpose.

For those unhappy with this latest development, just remember, as Jim Geraghty says, "All Barack Obama promises come with an expiration date. All of them."