Obama Prepping KSM Cave-In

Obama Prepping KSM Cave-In

by Matt Yglesias

Big win for the Cheney family:

President Obama’s advisers are nearing a recommendation that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the self-proclaimed mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, be prosecuted in a military tribunal, administration officials said, a step that would reverse Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr.’s plan to try him in civilian court in New York City.

I’m not going to attempt to defend this. I’ll merely note that it’s hard enough to have any kind of civil liberties in this country when the opposition party is pushing for them. When what you have is an opposition that’s pressuring incumbent officials to seize more power for themselves the incentive structure is nuts and the constitution is going to be shredded.

As recently as the 1990s, Congressional Republicans liked to stand up for civil liberties against some of the (tame, by post-9/11 standards) power-grabs by the Clinton-era Justice Department. But the dynamics of the Obama Era are toxic, especially because Democrats are so used to losing on national security that they can’t tell when they’re winning. It’s a depressing situation all around. And anyone in the White House who thinks the right-wing can’t just gin up some new “soft on terror” talking point is living in a dream world.