Introduction*
Mr. Bellinger makes a brave effort to defend the indefensible. Obviously, he is not responsible for our detainee policy. But he must know that it has been a moral and strategic catastrophe, badly damaging the image of the United States and increasing the dangers that threaten us. Strangely, he poses a challenge: “[H]ow would you have done it differently each step of the way?” There are too many crimes and blunders to choose among. I will focus here on one central disaster, the use made of the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, and one egregious constitutional violation, the abrogation of habeas corpus.
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