"MONUMENTAL INCOMPETENCE"

First, the story:

Charges Against Guantanamo Detainee Set for Trial Dropped Over Limit in Law

By Josh White
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, June 5, 2007; Page A18

A U.S. military judge dismissed all charges yesterday against a Canadian detainee at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, ruling that his war-crimes trial cannot move forward under the current military commissions law, a decision that could delay future legal proceedings at the U.S. detention facility.

Army Col. Peter Brownback's decision suspended the case against Omar Khadr, a 20-year-old detainee who allegedly killed a U.S. serviceman during fighting in Afghanistan in 2002.

Brownback decided that the Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006, which sets the rules for trying detainees at Guantanamo Bay, limits such commissions to "unlawful enemy combatants" and concluded that the military has never classified Khadr as "unlawful."

Charges against another Guantanamo Bay prisoner, Yemeni national Salim Ahmed Hamdan, were later dropped by another judge on the same grounds, Reuters reported.


Well, we can...oops! - maybe not:

From the Assocated Press:

Prosecuting attorneys in both cases indicated they would appeal the dismissals. But the court designated to hear the appeals - known as the court of military commissions review - doesn't even exist yet, said Marine Col. Dwight Sullivan, chief of military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay.


I got the post title from Andy McCarthy at the National Review:

Yet, if things are as the defense claims — and it bears remembering that very often they are not — this would be a demonstration of monumental incompetence.