Preventive Detention

After reading Adam Serwer's good article in the September 2009 issue of The American Prospect, I realize that the fundamental issue in preventive detention is political risk management. Obama can't just release all the detainees who can't be convicted or sent away, because one of them might do something for which the Limbaugh Republicans could beat up the Democrats. If we did not have a Constitution and a Bill of Rights the same reasoning would lead to the detention of half the country, or at least everyone in NY and SF (Limbaugh and Beck presumably excepted). Given the current mad dog nature of the Republican Party's leadership, Obama's best choice is probably what he seems to be doing: trying to make the problem disappear by sending all these people far away.