The Pentagon's plans for death-penalty prosecutions of six men accused of plotting the 2001 terrorist attacks were criticized by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, who said capital punishment is appropriate for such crimes but that military tribunals are the wrong forum for the case.

The Defense Department announced murder, terrorism and conspiracy charges Monday against alleged attack mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and five other inmates of the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It gave the leading presidential candidates a chance to show how they would balance anti-terrorism zeal and civil liberties concerns in a heated political climate.

Obama said the desire to punish the perpetrators of the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, shouldn't blind people to the flaws of the military tribunals that the Bush administration established to try Guantanamo inmates.

"These trials will need to be above reproach," the Illinois senator said in a statement Monday. "These trials are too important to be held in a flawed military commission system that has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks and that has been embroiled in legal challenges."

Obama said the men should be tried either in a U.S. criminal court or by military court-martial, either of which would "demonstrate our commitment to the rule of law." Both those systems are more protective of defendants' rights than military tribunals, which allow evidence obtained through coercion and hearsay.

Sen. John McCain of Arizona, front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, expressed no such reservations.  "I'm sorry that it has taken so long," McCain said.

SF Chronicle, February 13, 2008

McCain, on the other hand, has almost no principles (even if I disagree with him).  He's running as the hero who was tortured, who used to be against torture, but now to kow-tow to the wackadoodle right votes to support torture. Hillary took a pass on voting.

It's a very clear choice voters will face this fall should Obama win the nomination.  If Hillary gets the party poo-bahs to appoint her, the choice will be less clear in November.  It'll be torture vs. torture light.