The audacity of hypocrisy

Most of you probably didn't see it, but here's Barack Obama, just six weeks ago, refuting Dick Cheney's assertions that Guantanamo Bay and military tribunals are essential to keeping America safe.



Today, the New York Times reports that he may have had a, um, change of heart.

The Obama administration is moving toward reviving the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo 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]

[S]enior officials have emphasized that they prefer to prosecute terrorism suspects in existing American courts. When President Obama suspended Guantánamo cases after his inauguration on Jan. 20, many participants said the military commission system appeared dead.

But in recent days a variety of officials involved in the deliberations say that after administration lawyers examined many of the cases, the mood shifted toward using military commissions to prosecute some detainees, perhaps including those charged with coordinating the Sept. 11 attacks.

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

[snip]

[D]uring the presidential campaign Mr. Obama criticized the commissions, saying that “by any measure our system of trying detainees has been an enormous failure,” and declaring that as president he would “reject the Military Commissions Act.”

This is what happens when the uninformed try to second guess the experts. The whole thing reminds me of a group of little boys playing army. They know the right words to use, but have no concept of context or reality.

A word of caution to those administration lawyers - watch your backs.