Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), a close ally of 2008 GOP presidential nominee John McCain (Ariz.), said the “biggest mistake” of the Bush administration was how it handled the issue of military commissions for terror detainees – a mistake President Barack Obama seems determined to avoid by being more inclusive.
“They wanted to do it within the executive branch,” Graham said of the Bush administration. “They really kind of shunned independent judicial review. They didn’t work with the Congress. They set up rules that just made people uncomfortable. Now we’ve a chance to start over. And the president, to his great credit, is more collaborative with Congress. He wants to come back and get a new commission deal. He’s very open-minded to a new role for the judiciary that didn’t exist before.
“And I support that, because I want people to know they’re not imprisoned here because Dick Cheney said so. You’re imprisoned here only if an independent judiciary with no axe to grind agrees with the military that you’re part of the enemy force and then you still have a shot at getting out with an annual review process. But I want the American people to know we’re not looking at these folks as if they robbed a liquor store. If we go down that road, we’ll lose public support for the complete system… I’m looking for a do-over, a start-over.”
– J. Taylor Rushing