Audacity
Richard Cohen on judicial audacity, specifically that which Scalia, Thomas, and Alito accused the majority in Hamdan of having in second-guessing the Current Occupant. But Cohen goes much further than that:If ever there was a president who begged to be second-guessed, it is the one we unaccountably now have. History will record him as the president who responded to a terrorist attack launched from Afghanistan by also going to war against Iraq. It will remember him as the one who insisted this be done so as to rid that foul nation of chemical, biological and atomic weapons, of which, when the smoke had cleared and the country was conquered, none could be found. It does not take audacity to second-guess Bush. It takes prudence.
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In Europe, the attacks of Sept. 11 were often viewed not as an act of war but as a massive criminal act -- and the U.S. response, particularly the war in Iraq, was seen as an overreaction. Whatever the case, a hitherto compliant Congress ought to pick up on the Supreme Court's suggestion that it tell the president how detainees should be handled -- and go even farther, taking a hard look at whether an unrestrained war on terrorism, like the war in Iraq, is an exaggerated reaction to an exaggerated threat. For Congress, "audacity" is very much in order.
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In Europe, the attacks of Sept. 11 were often viewed not as an act of war but as a massive criminal act -- and the U.S. response, particularly the war in Iraq, was seen as an overreaction. Whatever the case, a hitherto compliant Congress ought to pick up on the Supreme Court's suggestion that it tell the president how detainees should be handled -- and go even farther, taking a hard look at whether an unrestrained war on terrorism, like the war in Iraq, is an exaggerated reaction to an exaggerated threat. For Congress, "audacity" is very much in order.