Obama Ending Use of Term "Enemy Combatant"

Not just the use of the term, but the legal precept it describes, that enemy combatants can be detained just because they're, um, enemy combatants.

From now on only a "substantial" quantum of aid to the Taliban or Al Qaeda will justify detention.

Not sure what "substantial" means. Defined one way, it could produce a regime barely any different from Bush's; ending the use of the term would be, like so much with Obama, an empty public-relations exercise.

On the other hand, defining it another way could mean that, say, Osama bin Ladin's driver couldn't be detained.

As usual, Obama is vague, elusive, and prefers to operate on the surreally superficial level of catch-phrases, slogans, and semantic sleight-of-hand.

Yup: I made the Obama/Osama error again, which I have decided to call the Senator Edward Kennedy Confusion in Islamic First Names Memorial.

posted by Ace at 03:42 PM

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