No sooner has a military tribunal sentenced Salim Hamdam to time served plus five months, than the Pentagon begins hemming and hawing. A spokesman says, equivocally, "He will serve his time for the conviction and then he will still be an enemy combatant, and as an enemy combatant the process for potential transfer or release will apply." And since they don't transfer or release prisoners to Hamdam's native Yemen .... hmm ... maybe they'll just keep him at Gitmo forever.
Our favorite bit of hyperbole is Olberman's aside, when reporting the original verdict and predicting the outcome: "How much Constitution is there left for you to shred, Mr. President? Our favorite bit of understatement in the WaPo article:
Defense Department officials said there are concerns about the public perception of holding Hamdan after his prison term runs out, because it could label the military commissions a "show process" with no meaning to its sentences.
Really? They think that, do they?
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