Isikoff: With terrorist guilty plea, court ’scores’ where illegal detention failed

Accused al Qaeda “sleeper” operative Ali al-Marripleaded guilty on Thursday to one count of conspiracy to provide material support to al Qaeda.
Newsweek correspondent Michael Isikoff was jubilant at the outcome, telling MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, “Score one for the criminal justice system.”
According to Isikoff, the Obama administration’s decision to try al-Marri in criminal court has accomplished what the Bush administration was unable to achieve with over seven years of illegal detention and “enhanced” interrogation techniques. It has not only established the facts about al-Marri’s own terrorist activities but has made him available as a witness in further trials.
Isikoff explained that al-Marri was detained in December 2001 and was suspected of plotting a second wave of al Qaeda attacks. “But rather than charging him in a criminal court, the Bush administration designated him an enemy combatant, stripped him of al. his Constitutional rights … and threw him in a military brig, denied him access to a lawyer, subjected him to ‘enhanced’ interrogation techniques … and [he] wasn’t charged with any crime.”
“This prompted a huge constitutional debate,” Isikoff continued, “as to whether or not a president can simply unilaterally strip somebody of his rights.” The case was all set to go to the Supreme Court this winter, when the Obama administration took al-Marri out of the military brig and charged him with conspiracy. “And today, amazingly, he pled guilty to some pretty significant set of facts.” LinkHere