CRUNCH TIME – AT 8:53 P.M. ET:  There's a trend in a number of articles running on the internet this morning, after the terror trial fiasco in New York.  Basically, they ask the question, "How much longer can Eric Holder last as attorney general?"  Michael Gerson lays out the case in WaPo:

Under Holder's influence, American detainee policy is a botched, hypocritical, politicized mess.

The case of embassy bomber Ahmed Ghailani - the only Guantanamo Bay detainee the Obama administration has brought to trial in the United States - was intended to increase public faith in civilian prosecutions. But a terrorist hugging his lawyers in victory can't be considered a confidence builder.

Wonderfully said.

A recent profile by Wil Hylton in GQ magazine attempts to put his tenure in the best possible light - the lonely, naive man of principle undone by politics. But the portrait is unintentionally devastating. Holder clearly views the war on terrorism as a distraction. "The biggest surprise I've had in this job," he told Hylton, "is how much time the national security issues take."

Oh dear, oh dear.  Did he really say that?  Why, that little inconvenience?

Civilian courts were not designed for high-profile enemy combatants...who would use a New York trial to embrace martyrdom and encourage violence. The use of military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay is fully constitutional, approved by Congress and consistent with wartime precedent.

Obama seems to be realizing - gradually, reluctantly - that applying the rules of war in the midst of a war does not destroy the credibility of the rule of law or encourage terrorist recruitment. But his public inability to admit this shift seems to be leading to the worst of possible outcomes.

Finally...

How does Obama back down and accept a tribunal? He could begin by appointing an attorney general who understands the requirements of national security. Some on the left believe Holder should resign out of principle. Some on the right believe he should leave because he is out of his depth. Such bipartisanship should not go to waste.

COMMENT:  Yes, I'm afraid it's true.  Holder must go.  He's doing far more harm than good, and revelations about the politicization of the Justice Department aren't helping him.

Nominations please?

November 19, 2010