Indefinite Detention for 50 Gitmo Detainees?

Hopefully everyone on both the Right and Left has noticed how the President has strayed from his campaign promises. Unfortunately, many of the President's supporters still fail to take notice of his shortcomings in office, demonstrating that they are more attracted by Obama's star-power than the issues themselves.

This particular story may start to convince some of the true believers in the "Hopenchange" crowd that President Obama and campaign-trail Obama are two different individuals.

From WaPo: "Justice Task Force Recommends About 50 Detainees Be Held Indefinitely"

A Justice Department-led task force has concluded that nearly 50 of the 196 detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, should be held indefinitely without trial under the laws of war, according to Obama administration officials.

...

The task force's findings represent the first time that the administration has clarified how many detainees it considers too dangerous to release but unprosecutable because officials fear trials could compromise intelligence-gathering and because detainees could challenge evidence obtained through coercion.

Administration officials argue that detaining terrorism suspects under Congress's authorization of the use of force against al-Qaeda and the Taliban is legal and that each detainee has the right to challenge his incarceration in habeas corpus proceedings in federal court.

In a May speech, Obama said detention policies "cannot be unbounded" and promised to reshape standards. "We must have a thorough process of periodic review, so that any prolonged detention is carefully evaluated and justified," he said.

The group of at least 110 detainees cleared for release includes two categories. The task force deemed approximately 80 detainees, including about 30 Yemenis, eligible for immediate repatriation or resettlement in a third country. About 30 other Yemenis were placed in a category of their own, with their release contingent upon dramatically stabilized conditions in their home country, where the government has been battling a branch of al-Qaeda and fighting a civil war.

Obama suspended the transfer of any Guantanamo Bay detainees to Yemen in the wake of an attempted Christmas Day airliner attack, a plot that officials said originated in Yemen. Effectively, all Yemenis now held at Guantanamo have little prospect of being released anytime soon.

 It seems that despite all the anti-Bush rhetoric still coming from the White House, the President continues to honor Bush's legacy by advancing some of Bush's more controversial policies. It is also ironic that these particular Gitmo detainees are recommended to remain indefinitely detained without trial because of the danger they pose, but KSM, the master-mind of 9/11, is given access to US courts (is he not dangerous as well?) Anyone else see a double-standard here?

President Obama insists on taking an impossible position on just about everything, alienating his constituents on both sides of the political spectrum. As much as some would like to stubbornly refuse to see the political repercussions of such policies, for those of us who remain entrenched in reason, Obama may risk losing his reelection come 2012.