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How embarrassing is it to be a Progressive today?
Reading and watching them trying to make excuses for the Obama administration's complete and total embrace of the Bush policy on Guantanamo and military tribunals is high comedy. I don't believe I've ever witnessed such a mass denouement of base hypocrisy. Progressives have literally changed themselves from people with a different political views to moral and intellectual turds.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, AG Eric Holder upholds civilian trials in principle while blaming Congress for interfering in the clear prerogatives of the Executive Branch.
Hmmm, seems like a puerile complaint considering that the President neglected to consult with Congress before committing troops to yet another conflict, but I don't want to get off track here.
Holder's faith in civilian trials is beyond ridiculous at this point. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani's conviction on a single count of conspiracy to damage U.S. property, while clearing him of 276 counts of murder and attempted murder was both embarrassing and completely predictable. For the crime of breaking some windows, Ghailani received a life sentence without parole. The trial, designed to symbolize the moral superiority of the Obama administration and highlight it's idealism, ended up a kangaroo court highlighting not just the deep and pervasive flaws of the U.S. court system, but the cynical and amoral character of the administration that had to admit that even if Ghailani had been exonerated, they still would have detained him indefinitely.
What to do with captured terrorists was and is a terribly complicated problem, outside the bounds of our experience. It's clearly a war, but these are not soldiers, but neither are they criminals. The left's irresponsible demagoguery has come back to bite them in the ass, and while I'll enjoy my schadenfreude, it is tempered with the realization that Progressives are essentially incapable of acting in statesmanlike fashion in the larger interests of the country.
What is really needed is not an abolishment of Guantanamo and military tribunals, but a protection against the abuses of such government power against other, non-terrorist targets. Too bad the inmates are running the asylum.


