This is an interesting take on the President’s decision to resort to a form of military tribunal to address charges against certain Guantanamo detainees. I recognize that there are multiple views on this issue, but the reality is that there is no clear answer to how to deal with the problem of what to do with individuals who are not soldiers in any nation’s military, who are not citizens of the United States with the constitutional rights that accompany that status, and who apparently pose some kind of terrorist threat to our country. I think the President’s revisiting of this issue just demonstrates that questions that seem easily answered when you are campaigning before crowds of supporters become more difficult when you assume the mantle of ultimate responsibility for the consequences if those easy answers turn out to be wrong.
My guess is that, at some point during his presidency, these kinds of decisions will cause President Obama — and perhaps others as well — to have developed a bit more respect for his predecessor than he had when he first took on the job.
