Tom Leppert

We all remember where we were on September 11, 2001, when we saw the Twin Towers fall, witnessed the devastation at the Pentagon, and heard the story of the heroes who gave their lives in a Pennsylvania field. Now, we will all remember where we were when we learned the man responsible for those attacks was brought to justice by the brave men and women of our armed forces. The families of those murdered on September 11th and of the soldiers who gave their lives in the War on Terror have waited far too long for this day, but it is truly a victory for them, for all of our troops, and for the United States of America.

We must remain vigilant and remember this fight is far from over. The rest of the al Qaeda network must be destroyed, and justice must still be served on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who planned the attacks on our country, and other terrorists. We cannot rest until we have a final victory over radical Islam.

I was pleased this week to hear that President Obama has reversed his previous decision banning military tribunals of terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay. After years criticizing the use of military tribunals and the debacle last year when the Administration tried to bring Khalid Sheik Mohammed to American soil for a civilian trial, it's clear the Administration's policy has at least shifted in the right direction.

We can hope new charges will be referred soon so justice can be served. The only appropriate venue to put an enemy combatant on trial is a military tribunal. A civilian trial would mistakenly give foreign terrorists the same rights as U.S. citizens and put sensitive intelligence at risk. President Obama said on Monday he still wants to pursue civilian trials, but Congress has cut off his funding and it must continue to do so.

There are other problems with President Obama's decision, as well. Rather than issuing an executive order, the President should have worked with Congress to write legislation governing the detention of enemy combatants. And as the Wall Street Journal points out, if the tribunals aren't properly funded, we won't be able to bring these terrorists to justice. The Journal continues by noting President Obama is pushing for Senate ratification of Additional Protocol 1, which is a revision to the Geneva Convention and would confuse the distinction of enemy combatants. This may appease President Obama's radical leftist base, but it is a mistake and we must make sure it is never ratified by the Senate.

From the Wall Street Journal's editorial:

The real test of Mr. Obama's new maturity will be if he puts the guts back into the tribunal process, restoring the funding and talent necessary to handle complex prosecutions that have been lost over the years amid the assault on Gitmo.

The other note of trouble is Mr. Obama's decision, also announced yesterday, to seek Senate ratification of a radical 1977 revision to the 1949 Geneva Conventions known as Additional Protocol 1. President Reagan repudiated Protocol 1 in 1987 because it vitiated the distinction between lawful and unlawful enemy combatants. Terrorists fight out of uniform and target civilians and thus do not deserve traditional prisoner-of-war protections. This was the two-decade political consensus until the Bush Presidency.

[...]

Our guess is that Mr. Obama has adopted Protocol 1 to appease the domestic left and especially the "international community" that will be dismayed by his new embrace of Gitmo and George W. Bush's policies. [...] Mr. Obama is nonetheless complicating the task of U.S. terror fighters, and encouraging further barbarism, by extending the laws of war to terrorists who hold combat restrictions in contempt.

We can hope that with this new decision, the terrorists in Guantanamo will finally be brought to justice, but there is still a complex fight ahead to assure the right steps are taken to protect our national security.