If you want to understand why Politico has become Dick Cheney's "preferred media conduit" -- you need only read the Keep America Safe press release they put up this morning, responding to Attorney General Eric Holder's testimony before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science yesterday. Holder had said that, hypothetically, if Osama bin Laden were tried in civilian court, he would have the same rights as "any mass murderer" such as Charles Manson. Keep America Safe's Debra Burlingame begs to differ:
“Putting Charlie Manson in a civilian court didn't endanger any intelligence secrets,” she said. “When he draws analogies like that, that's when he loses people. It appears as if he doesn't know we're at war.”
Right, it's not like he's said anything to the contrary. Also, to Burlingame I ask, do civilian courts endanger classified information? Do the military commissions that she favors handle such information differently?
It's not like there aren't any objective answers. Holder himself reminded the House panel at yesterday's hearing that the military commissions base their handling of classified information on the Classified Information Procedures Act, or CIPA, which is the statute that governs the disclosure of classified information in civilian court. The difference on paper between a civilian court and a military commission in this instance is minimal. Meanwhile the difference in practice is likely to be substantial, because military lawyers aren't used to trying cases that make use of the statute, which makes it more likely that classified information might be disclosed. As of today, there isn't a single example of information marked classified being leaked during the trial of a suspected terrorist in civilian court.
None of this is in the Politico article, and it explains both why the Cheneys and their allies keep going to Politico with their public statements. Beyond the he-said-she-said, their smears will be reprinted without any challenge or explanation as to whether the claim is actually true. They report without context; you decide based on the absence of relevant information.
-- A. Serwer
