MATLOCK!!!

Broder who has been quick to work up to righteous fury when it comes to Harry Reid's words, is so matter-of-fact about this...

While Iraq's government dithers and American troops die, the courts are sending Bush the message that indefinite military detention of supposed "enemy combatants" is a gross violation of the Constitution.

The latest such ruling came last week from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit in Richmond. A citizen of Qatar with a student visa to enroll at Bradley University, Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, was arrested in Peoria, Ill., on charges of credit card fraud and lying to federal agents and was accused of being an al-Qaeda operative. But rather than trying him on those charges, the government transferred him to the Navy brig in Charleston, S.C., and has held him there for four years.

The 2 to 1 majority opinion said, "To sanction such presidential authority to order the military to seize and indefinitely detain civilians, even if the president calls them 'enemy combatants,' would have disastrous consequences for the Constitution -- and the country."

The Justice Department said it would appeal the ruling to the full 4th Circuit. But this is only the latest in a long series of legal setbacks to the Bush administration's effort since Sept. 11 to bypass the normal procedures for trying people and instead herd accused subversives into Guantanamo or other prisons without recourse to lawyers or courts.

Last year, the Supreme Court struck down the military tribunal system Bush had established to handle these cases, and other decisions have reaffirmed the prisoners' right to contest the evidence on which they are being held.

Republican presidential candidates -- most of whom have pledged to continue both Bush policies -- are on notice. They are betting on losing policies.

How about a little MORAL FUCKING OUTRAGE where it belongs Broder?

UNCONSTITUTIONAL should demand condemnation, but you see to reserve that for Harry Reid...

Oh and by the way, doesn't the beginning of this section demonstrate that when Harry Reid said Iraq is lost (for which you called him the Democrats Gonzales), or criticized Pace he was right?