Obama’s Big Mistake

President Obama wants to close Guantanamo – but he also wants to revive the military tribunal system for trying terrorist suspects. If he does, he will bring discredit on himself and the country.

Until now, Obama has done mostly the right thing in dealing with the poisonous legacy left to him by his predecessor, namely, the Guantanamo prison compound and the torture of some of its inmates. He has ordered the compound to be closed. He has revoked the previous administration’s endorsement of CIA torture. He has publicly stated that the practice of using torture has damaged the United States more than it has helped it. Now, however, he seems poised to make a huge mistake: His administration admittedly intends to revive the military tribunal system approved by George W. Bush for trying terrorist suspects.

Obama’s advisors certainly must have imagined something better, but reality caught up with them. What to do with people who, by any human standards, committed the most heinous crimes but whose confessions were wrung out of them by the brutal use of torture? Such testimony would not be allowed in any decent court of law. Let the alleged architects of the 9/11 attacks and other horrible crimes go free? That’s not a workable alternative either. So Obama is considering keeping the military tribunals in place, with a few more rights allowed to the accused. “Bush light”, in other words.

If he does that, Obama will bring discredit on himself and his nation. It would be far better if he bit the bullet and called for legal proceedings in the civilian court system. That might be legally very complicated and, in some cases, perhaps even impossible, but the nation won’t be able to complete the purification process without it. The Bush administration’s poisonous aura will continue to diminish America’s image for years to come.