The Wall Street Journal editors note recent stances taken by President 44 and see more continuity than change we can believe in" as to anti-terror policy. They note this astonishing exchange in a federal court case on "extraordinary rendition" that began under Bush 43:
In this closely watched case, the American Civil Liberties Union sued the flight-logistics outfit Jeppesen DataPlan in 2007 on behalf of Binyam Mohamed and four other Guantanamo detainees. The argument was that the Boeing subsidiary was complicit in arranging flights for rendition, a policy that transfers certain terror prisoners seized abroad to other countries for interrogation. Mohamed and his compatriots claim they are the victims of torture overseas.
The Bush Administration argued the case should be dismissed because open proceedings could damage national security by disclosing state secrets. A lower court agreed. Most everyone expected the Obama Justice Department to dump the secrecy line when the case came up for review before the left-leaning Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday, apparently including the Ninth Circuit.
Judge Mary Schroeder asked leadingly, "Is there anything that might have happened" to cause Justice to shift its views? "No, your honor," the Justice attorney, Douglas Letter, replied. A startled Judge Schroeder tried again. "The change in Administration has no bearing?" Mr. Letter reiterated that his positions had been "authorized" and "thoroughly vetted with the appropriate officials within the new Administration."
Ignore the unseemly, palpable eagerness of a liberal judge to see policy change, and praise President 44 for, in some respects, acting like Bush 44. A Washington Post front-pager surveys pending Gitmo terror cases and notes numerous practical real-world problems 44 faces. In a nutshell, the minefield of our legal system makes it hard to convict, and perhaps will make it impossible to hold, some very dangerous people who if released will return to the fight. Such are the wages of manic legalism in a war against terrorists who use our system's rights as a weapon against us.
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