A mountain out of a molehill

Both on Capitol Hill and in the Leftist blogsphere, there is a great deal of cheering going on about the Supreme Court's ruling that military trials for the terrorists imprisoned in comfort at Guantanomo Bay are illegal because they lack congressional sanction.

I had to chuckle at one Canadian blog which crowed, "Finally! The U.S. Supreme Court shows some humanity!" I'm not sure what's humane about ruling that murders being held under conditions far more comfortable than those of all but a few "country club" prisons in the United States cannot be held to answer for their crimes without providing them with the propaganda platform involved in a public, civil trial, which would make it difficult to keep classified material needed for their prosecution secret from al Quaeda or any other interested party. I suppose anything that is heralded as a setback for President Bush must appear to be a triumph for humanity to those whose hatred for the man and all his works has sufficiently distorted their perspective.

In fact, the ruling was expected by the administration- and is not a particularly big deal. Already, as I noted earlier today, Senators Lindsey Graham (R-SC) and John Kyl (R- Az) have introduced a bill to remedy the situation by specifically authorizing the trials. I expect the bill to pass in reasonably short order- though I also expect the Blame America First crowd on the Hill to fight it every step of the way.

Actually, the only thing about the decision which is particularly a setback for the President is the Court's ruling that the prisoners, hitherto deemed by the administration "illegal combatants" not entitled to the protections of the Geneva Convention, are in fact so entitled as a matter of treaty obligation. Few of them would live as well as they are living now were they returned home- difficult, in many cases, because their countries of origin won't take them back. Most reasonable people, I think, would conclude that releasing them onto the streets of New York or Kansas CIty is not a viable option; the problems involved in a civil trial I've touched on above. Hard to see how the issue of "humanity" applies, for all the mileage the America-haters overseas are apparently getting out of the Gitmo camp.

Having had no alternative but to imprison them (or kill them; would the Left and the America haters really have preferred that?) the Bush administration is now more or less in the position of the Scottish milkmaid in the opening act of the musical Brigadoon, who sings of her wares,

...The finest it is; the price is low-
There's milk, and there's cream. Alack!
There's nothin' to to but sell it all;
The cow will na' take it back!

The dangerous men incarcerated at Camp X-Ray will still be tried, one way or another, and brought to justice. There simply is no rational alternative. Nor is today's ruling as much an impediment as an irritation.

I suppose if jumping through the hoop of Congress having to pass a special law, or else taking the risk to national security involved in introducing classified information into evidence in a civil trial brings the Democrats and Mr. Bush's other detractors joy, then they have cause to rejoice. But nothing really was changed today. The President will, of course, comply with the ruling; he is not the scoflaw the Bush-haters insist he is. And those prisoners deemed, having received due process (and there was never any question of their not receiving it) to be guilty of war crimes will be imprisoned for a specific term under conditions far less comfortable than those at Gitmo, or executed.

I suppose, if you're a Bush enemy- frustrated beyond belief by having constantly engaged in the self-defeating custom of "misunderestimating" the man- you take your joy where you can get it. But the President will see to it that the country is kept safe from the likes of those prisoners anyway.

He will, once again, have the last laugh.

HT: Real Clear Politics Opinion Buzz Tracker