Ahh Gitmo....

This afternoon the Senate will debate a bill that will restore the right of habeaus corpus to enemy combatants. In other words, those jailed in the war on terror (capitals not deserving) can challenge the lawfulness of their detention in a court. Democrats are for it Republicans largely against it and the President has threatened to veto it.

Yesterday Sen Chris Dodd gave a speech on the floor in which he reminded the chamber that after WWII there was broad consensus that the German officers held at Nuremberg should be summarily executed. Churchill and Stalin took that view. It was the Americans who insisted that civility and the rule of law prevail because it was important to demonstrate that America was different than its foes. That we had not fought a war simply to adopt the mentality of the fascists

Opponents of the bill will likely hide behind paens to security. The same tripe they used to justify Guantanamo? Remember Gitmo? The place supposedly held the most hardened anti- US militants. The "worst of the worst." Well, over half of them have been released and the Pentagon's own tribunals have found that only 8% of them were actually associated with the Taliban or Al Queda.

The fearmongers had their fun at Gitmo and they made a hash of it. Maybe the adults should come back now.