Getting It Right

Heating up this week will be what to do about the people we are holding in a concentration camp in Cuba. With that comes the story over the weekend that Illinois wants to sell the feds a prison to move detainees to. Add in the announcement last week from the Obama administration that it plans to try 9/11 conspirators in criminal court in NYC and it creates the perfect mix for two very different narratives on how to proceed and wage the war on terrorism.

Surprising it was to see this reaction from John McCain:

"These terrorists are not common criminals," said Sen. John McCain, Ariz., Obama's opponent in last year's election. "They are war criminals, who committed acts of war against our citizens and those of dozens of other nations."

I'm a little hesitant on that. If they are war criminals who committed acts of war, then they should be held as "prisoners of war," just like we did the Japanese. I would think John McCain would know the difference. The vagueness of the prosecution of the war on terror from the Bushies is still very much present today. That's why the next steps of how to classify detainees, conduct foreign policy and manage items of war, will be crucial for the Obama administration to get right. I'm not against trying detainees in criminal courts, I just so happen to think military commissions would be a better fit especially for high ranking prisoners.