Jake Tapper posts an email from a “senior administration official” defending the Ghailani verdict (emphasis mine):
“So, we tried a guy (who the Bush Admin tortured and then held at GTMO for 4-plus years with no end game whatsoever) in a federal court before a NY jury with full transparency and international legitimacy and — despite all of the legacy problems of the case (i.e., evidence getting thrown out because of Bush-Admin torture, etc,) we were STILL able to convict him and INCAPACITATE him for essentially the rest of his natural life, AND there was not one — not one — security problem associated with the trial.”
On the one hand, I’m glad to see that Bush-era torture is accepted as fact by a senior member of the Obama Administration. On the other hand, since certain legal consequences should — yet haven’t — flowed from that fact …
David Kurtz
David Kurtz is Managing Editor and Washington Bureau Chief of Talking Points Memo where he oversees the news operations of TPM and its sister sites.