Obama Suspends Military Tribunals

President Obama has ordered the immediate suspension of the military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay while he decides how to handle the accused terrorists held there. Last week his nominee for attorney general, Eric Holder, said the tribunals did not provide adequate protections for defendants but was vague about whether the Obama administration would pursue trials in criminal court, standard military court, or some new amalgam. Obama, who has promised to close the prison at Guantanamo, also has to decide what to do with the prisoners he does not plan to try, many of whom are either innocent or accused of crimes less serious than those committed by detainees the Pentagon already has released.

In my column today, I note the Bush administration's poor track record in distinguishing "the worst of the worst" from the rest.