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If you ask me, the idea that the Mohammed Jawad case, and the fact that 28 of 33 habeas cases have been decided in favor of the plaintiffs proves that we need a preventive detention regime is kind of weird -- it suggests to me that the entire concept is inherently problematic. But the Washington Post, noting both facts, comes out in favor of one:
-- A. Serwer
Many years were wasted as the Bush administration tried to channel detainee cases through flawed military proceedings; the habeas corpus proceedings themselves have been slowed by procedural uncertainties and complications in sorting through evidence. These delays could be greatly reduced through the creation of a national security court. Such a court would be staffed by federal judges and governed by a clear set of rules to handle cases against detainees believed too dangerous for release but against whom there is not enough conventional evidence to prosecute in a traditional court of law. The Obama administration, which is conducting a review of the detention system, could ensure fairer and faster treatment of future detainees by embracing this reform.This sounds a great deal like the proposal now Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal and former Bush Office of Legal Counsel head Jack Goldsmith proposed in 2007. Civil liberties groups would argue that "fairer and faster" treatment of detainees captured outside of a zone of combat would include, you know, charging them with a crime or letting them go.
-- A. Serwer
