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Hamsters who have been here for a while will certainly remember the name of retired Navy Rear Adm. John Hutson.
Hutson was the Navy's Judge Advocate General from 1997 to 2000, and he currently serves as the President and Dean of the Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord.
He was also notable as a prominent (former) Republican for Obama.
Today Hutson was part of a conference call hosted by Human Rights First to register his voice on the news that the White House is about to reverse course and try KSM in a military tribunal:
"If you were from Mars and you came to earth and were told there were two options for prosecuting these guys. And one of them was federal courts, where we've done 200 of these [terrorism] cases over the last nine years, 90-percent-plus conviction rate, people successfully imprisoned, experienced judges, experienced prosecutors and all of that. Or you could go to a military commission which the Supreme Court has already struck down once, they've got three cases [with] two guilty pleas - both of those guys are out of jail - no experienced judges, no experienced prosecutors and a tenuous judicial system at best which is untried up to now in any real sense - which one you choose is pretty clear. Then you put on top of that the Constitution very clearly provides the president in his capacity as commander-in-chief is responsible for the prosecution of the war - and I would argue all of this is part of that responsibility, in how we go forward with the war - and the Department of Justice is responsible for the prosecution of federal prisoners, it's clearly in the authority and the responsibility of the executive branch to do this."
I find it to be incredibly telling that such a stoopid, obviously political decision on the part of the White House would run afoul of a former military man, Republican, and legal expert.
I would only add that a) this is how you lose voters in parts of the fabric of the broad coalition needed to win a presidency, and b) if the White House strategists think this will placate Republicans trying to dent Obama's national security credentials, they are kidding themselves. This will only embolden them.
Oh, and what Yglesias said.
Update: Trial balloon? The White House:
"No decision has been made, and we do not expect a decision for weeks as the review process is ongoing."
