GOP Turncoats, part II

Andrew McCarthy's Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory is a must read.

...Last week’s 49-42 margin demonstrated that the votes were there to win. Nevertheless, the chamber has now reversed itself. By a vote of 84-14, the senators resolved Tuesday that the ultimate decision about who is properly considered an “enemy combatant,” should rest with federal judges, not our military commanders who actually confront the enemy in the life-and-death of the battlefield. Snatching defeat from the jaws of victory, Senator Lindsey Graham chose to make common cause with Senate Democrats, led by Senator Carl Levin, who favor treating the people trying to annihilate us as if they were ordinary criminal defendants...

It takes all the mental gymnastics of a Sesame Street re-run to see how this will turn out. Each enemy combatant will challenge -- in the civilian court system -- various errors and omissions related to the military trials. This vote serves only to hamstring our fighting forces, who must now worry about law-enforcement procedure in addition to their day jobs.

And the terrorists are very likely cheering this unwelcome development.

Go ye and read of it, for it is good.