Hamdan Verdict

Here, is Hirch's (Newsweek) take on the Hamdan verdict. As I've begun to suspect, opinions are written not only by judges, less frequently by lawyers (at least not quickly) and with the most brevity by the media, some in the media. The case is certain to be appealed and has a good chance of being thrown out, as it does not seem clear that driving a car, even carrying a terrorist, is a war crime worthy of much punishment, much less torture.

Why did the administration decide to lead off with this one? Is it the strongest case? Strongest argument for maintaining Gitmo? A risky decision. But that's why I'm not serving in this man's government.

As Matt Waxman, the former Defense Department assistant secretary of detainee affairs, put it to me (the author): "In terms of global perceptions, it's really been the U.S. system that's on trial more than individual terrorism suspects … The government has certainly lost the perceptions battle on this case so far."