Will Bunch takes a look at the Ghailani verdict. Far from a "showcase" for how effective civilian trials can be in punishing terrorists, the decision sanctioned the "post-acquittal detention power"Â [holding so-called "enemy combatants" indefinitely] claimed by Obama.Â
"Let's be clear: if time in the extra-judicial limbo of black sites, and the torture that caused some evidence to be excluded, makes prosecutors' jobs harder, the problem is with the black sites and the torture, and not with the civilian trials that might eventually not work out quite the way everyone likes. It's a point that bears some repeating.  Our legal system is not a machine for producing the maximum number of convictions, regardless of the law. Jurors are watching the government, too, as well they should. Ghailani today could be anyone tomorrow. - Amy Davidson, senior editor at The New Yorker
Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani was convicted of one out of two hundred and eighty-five counts, and faces a sentence of twenty years to life. But that doesn't satisfy torture protagonist John Yoo, who had the effrontery to comment on the case; video here.
