by Kenneth Anderson
Former DOS Legal Adviser (and a path-breaking guest blogger here at OJ when in that role a couple of years ago) John Bellinger has a short opinion column out at the CFR site, April 14, 2010 (corrected link, I hope!), discussing continuity and change in US detention policy on counterterrorism. John takes up a range of issues, from trials to repatriation and more, and concludes that there is mostly continuity with the second Bush term. I agree. It is a good, short, robust summary of the issues involved.
(Update: In addition to John’s piece, Rick Pildes and David Golove have a calm, reasoned discussion at Balkinization on ways to deal with terrorism related detentions and trials. They call for an approach that mingles aspects of criminal law and armed conflict law. They emphasize the need for a legislated system. It is true, of course, that I am an advocate of a national security court approach to both detention and trial, so I am predisposed to some form of the “melding” view, and am also strongly committed to legislating a system for all this — but regardless of where you start, I think this is an excellent discussion.)