Month: January 2009

By Patrick Appel

Glenn Greenwald is on top of it:

It appears that the Guantanamo judges will be receptive to the Obama administration’s request to stay these commissions, as another military judge — this one overseeing the proceedings against five detainees accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — just ordered the commissions stayed for 120 days, as Obama ordered his prosecutors to request.  And the Swiss Government today announced that it will agree to accept released Guantanamo detainees if that helps close the camp, which Switzerland, like most of the civilized world, considers a blight on Western justice and an ongoing violation of international law.  Those are fairly rapid (and encouraging) events for the first 24 hours.

On a related note, AP obtained the draft Executive Order now being circulated in the White House that directs that "the detention facilities at Guantanamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order."  A definitive date certain for closing that camp is vital, though the real question is and will continue to be:  under what system and rules will the detainees, once transferred to the U.S., be tried?

Columbus, Ohio, 7.50 am.

By Patrick Appel

Obama and Gates asked to suspend the Gitmo trials. Ed Morrissey is irreverent:

The delay would only be meaningful if Obama intended to free all of the Gitmo prisoners, something that the ACLU has urged.  Somehow, I don’t think Barack Obama would be that foolish.  It would be tough to win re-election as the man who set Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and the other 9/11 actors free simply to win favor from Europe’s elite.

Expect a lot more whining where that came from as Obama tries to re-establish the rule of law.

By Patrick Appel

A paragraph from an evaluation of the Bush years over at Thomas P.M. Barnett’s place:

Where Bush-Cheney does deserve credit, despite their many errors in judgment, is in their staying power, or strategic patience. But even here I’m loathe to give anything but a split verdict, because another six-to-nine months on the diplomatic run-up to Iraq and we could have had a lot better buy-in from clearly interested great powers, all of whom were not interested in a Vietnam-like quagmire if it meant they’d be shut out of the economic endgame.

As it is, it’s interesting now to watch Russia, China, and Iran consistently win infrastructure-building contracts in Iraq, because it only proves that good things come to those who placate. Then again, that was also true for the Bush White House regarding the al Qaeda-infused, Sunni-based insurgency inside Iraq. By sticking it out long enough, despite the high casualties, we simply waited long enough to take advantage of the Salafi jihadists’ natural tendency to go overboard with the locals. Abu Musab Zarqawi’s impatience to turn Iraq into al Qaeda’s global cause celeb led to brutality that eventually alienated Iraq’s Sunni tribes, yielding the "Anbar awakening" that signaled the beginning of General Petraeus’ somewhat successful rollback (or is it buyback?) of al Qaeda’s presence there.

By Patrick Appel

The inauguration is over. Time for the real show to begin.

By Patrick Appel

Glenn Reynolds asks Obama to lower the drinking age:

I will make one policy proposal. Some of my fellow libertarians hope that the Obama administration will put an end to the drug war. I hope so too, but I’m not too optimistic. Instead, I propose a smaller step toward freedom — eliminating the federally mandated drinking age of 21. This mandate was a creature of Elizabeth Dole (who is no longer in the Senate to complain at its abolition), and it has unnecessarily limited the freedom of legal adults, old enough to fight for their country, to drink adult beverages.

Megan agrees. It’s nice to see that Glenn is libertarian on the issues that matter. Oh, wait…

By Patrick Appel

I’ll keep the Dish brimming with posts while Andrew recovers. Chris Bodenner, Dish alum and regular Dish guest blogger, will be helping me out later this afternoon. As always, I’ll also be manning the general e-mail account (andrew@theatlantic.com) while Andrew is away. Feel free to send me your thoughts today, the first full day of the Obama presidency.

I swear I didn’t drink too much and suspect food poisoning or some bug, but I spent much of the night projectile vomiting into the bathroom porcelain. Maybe it was some kind of psychosomatic response to the end of the Bush administration – but the bottom line is that I’m useless and can barely move. Patrick is going to fill in until I can function. Apologies. And, yes, I was at Hitch’s last night but I swear I didn’t overdo it.

"History will be the judge of my decisions, but when I walked out of the Oval Office this morning, I left with the same values that I took to Washington eight years ago. And when I get home tonight and look in the mirror, I’m not going to regret what I see — except maybe some gray hair," – Former President George W. Bush.

Graeme Wood reports on what is was like being at the mall yesterday:

To reach the better parts of the show required effort and ingenuity. What they didn’t require was a ticket. My BlackBerry’s connection worked intermittently, and I received forlorn reports from friends once proud to have wangled tickets. Tickets once fetched thousands of dollars on the black market. The messages now sounded depressed and furious. "Am in line, but it isn’t moving." "We’re giving up. It’s a fraud. Secret Service are bastards."