Obama misses the mark with military commissions

Promising to close Gitmo by January, 2010, was a good move on Obama's part. But he made a big mistake in choosing to continue trying terrorism suspects via military commissions.

Over the past few years, the military commissions used at Gitmo have proven to be nothing more than a kangaroo court system. Reformed or not, there are better options out there. After all, the federal court system has successfully dealt with numerous terrorist cases through the years, and remains best equipped to do so.

Elisa Massimino, CEO and Executive Director of the group Human Rights First, put it this way:

"Tinkering with the machinery of military commissions will not remove the taint of Guantanamo from future prosecutions. The president should listen to the many dedicated military lawyers who both defended and prosecuted cases in the commissions at Guantanamo who have said that the commissions are irredeemable. We cannot achieve justice by reverse engineering a process to enhance the likelihood of convictions. That's not how we do things in this country. The federal criminal justice system has credibility and a proven track record of prosecuting terrorism cases without compromising national security or our Constitution’s values. President Obama should use it."

Some prominent and well-respected retired military leaders agree, and have called on Obama to abandon the use of military commissions.

Obama should heed their advice.

But then, as a constitutional scholar himself, Obama should already know better.

I hope he will reconsider.