The Bumper Sticker Approach to Editorials

The New York Times editorial page today notes that the Faizal Shahzad prosecution culimatined in a life sentence within less than six months of his attempt to bomb Times Square, and points out the rather sharp contrast this makes in comparison to the progress of miltiary commissions.  That's a very effective point, and it would have been nice to see it paired with a serious discussion of other reasons why the commission system as it stands today might not be worth keeping.  But aside from a grudging concession that "Congress made it slightly better" in 2006 and that "President Obama improved it a bit more" in 2009 (no mention of Congress for some reason), that's all the analysis we get before the conclusion that the commission system "is still not up to American standards, or to its task."  I appreciate that the op-ed form requires brevity, but this is a missed opportunity to advance the debate.  No one open to persuasion will find this very useful, aside from the brief opening reference to the speed-to-conviction issue. So too the editorial's breezy claim that "[f]orty-eight [of the GTMO detainees] are in a long-term detention that is certainly illegal" (emphasis added).  This number appears to refer to the set of GTMO detainees whom the government seems likely to wish to hold in continued military custody without civilian or military prosecution.  Since all of these person will receive habeas corpus review, it seems pretty clear that the editorial is not complaining about the lack of a chance for these persons to contest the evidence against them.  Rather, the claim seems to be that the government simply lacks any authority to use military detention, even assuming that the government can proves its allegations.  That is one heck of a claim, all the more so if the editorial's author means to encompass even persons who bore arms on the battlefield in Afghanistan (I don't know whether the "48" encompasses that fact pattern or not).  No one open to persuasion could possibly find this useful.