Dangerous Injustice

President-elect Obama plans to ship Guantanamo Bay detainees here to "be charged in U.S. courts, where they would receive constitutional rights and open trials." Jeff Goldstein explains why this is a horrifyingly bad idea, including possible public disclosure of military secrets and covert agent identities. (Remember when liberals cared about that? No more.)

As I've explained, no law or precedent requires that terrorism and terrorists be redressed and punished via criminal law. And thoughtful liberals recognize the difficultly and danger in crafting an alternative to military trials at Gitmo.

But the incoming Administration apparently prefers symbolism to security. So Obama no doubt will appreciate the sub-text of the story in Saturday's New York Times:

The leader of a jihadi group in Iraq argued Friday that the election of Barack Obama as president represented a victory for radical Islamic groups that had battled American forces since the invasion of Iraq.

(via Just One Minute)