New York Times Endorses Military Detention and Military Commissions, Sort Of
Cully Stimson /
In today’s editorial titled “The K.S.M. Files,” the New York Times laments the good ‘ole days of 2009, when, in their words, “the United States was making progress toward cleaning up the mess President George W. Bush made with his detention policies. The Pentagon was working on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. The flawed military tribunals were improved, at least a bit. And the Justice Department announced that the accused mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh (sic) Mohammed, would be tried in federal court.”
Setting nostalgia aside, and the fact that “messy” Bush detention policies have essentially been adopted by the Obama administration, and the fact that the Pentagon had been effectively working to close Guantanamo since 2006, it should not go unnoticed that the Times also hints at endorsing some the of the very policies they vehemently denounced during the Bush presidency.
Devoted readers of only the Times could be excused for thinking that terrorists captured on the battlefield must be tried in federal court, or set free. The “try them or set them free” mantra, repeated zombie-like for eight years of the Bush administration, was the calling card for liberal papers like the Times.
Fast forward to the Obama administration and today’s editorial, which states, “People captured in battle may, of course, be held as military prisoners.” My favorite part of that sentence is the “of course,” as if the notion of military detention is something that every reasonable person can agree on. It is, just not one the Times editorial page has embraced whole heartedly, until now. What changed? (more…)