Okay, tell me what I’m missing here:

The Pentagon’s senior judge overseeing terror trials at Guantanamo Bay dropped charges Thursday against an al-Qaida suspect in the 2000 USS Cole bombing, upholding President Barack Obama’s order to freeze military tribunals there. The charges against suspected al-Qaida bomber Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri marked the last active Guantanamo war crimes case.

The legal move by Susan J. Crawford, the top legal authority for military trials at Guantanamo, brings all cases into compliance with Obama’s Jan. 22 executive order to halt terrorist court proceedings at the U.S. Navy base in Cuba.  Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Crawford dismissed the charges against al-Nashiri without prejudice. That means new charges can be brought again later. He will remain in prison for the time being.

Judging by the response of some conservatives, you’d think that the Obama Administration is going to pardon al-Nashiri and get him a job flipping burgers at a Wendy’s in Poughkeepsie. Here’s Joe Scarborough:

“The parents of 17 dead sailors understand we had the process, Mika,” Scarborough said to his co-host, Mika Brzezinski, who was questioning the legal process. “I wonder what President Obama says to the 17 families of these dead soldiers. It seems, Mika, like there is very little to be said.”

To be fair, it’s not just conservatives who are unhappy.  Families of the victims of the Cole aren’t pleased either.  Perhaps most vocal is Cmdr. (ret.) Kirk S. Lippold, who commanded the USS Cole at the time of the bombing in 2000.  Here’s what he said to Scarborough:

“Personally, I am very disappointed he has gone forward with this,” said retired Cmdr. Kirk S. Lippold on MSNBC’s Morning Joe show. “But more important is the impact that has on the families who have waited for eight years for justice to have to wait another 120 days.”

Lippold’s comments were a glimpse of what Obama will hear at a Friday meeting with families of victims of the Cole bombing and 9/11 attacks. Lippold said he will be in attendance.

The judge overseeing military trials at Guantanamo ordered charges Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, reversing an earlier decision that the case must go forward despite a request by the president to delay the proceeding. “We had a legal process in place,” Lippold said. “Now justice delayed, is justice denied.”

I sympathize with Lippold, and strongly agree that those responsible for the death of his crew members should be held responsible.  But what part of the words “procedural matter” does he not understand? And how does this delay of justice, as Lippold put it, somehow wrong when the Bush Administration has been screwing around for years?  Don’t we want to get it right?

To its credit, the Obama Administration is trying to ensure that a future prosecution of al-Nashiri can move forward without the risk of double jeopardy that an immediate trial could pose.  In other words, if you want this guy convicted, and you want it done right, the best thing to do is to delay the trial until you’ve done a thorough review.

I haven’t seen any pool reports about the White House meeting, but here’s hoping that President Obama explained this to Lippold and others sharing similar concerns.

As always, I encourage those in my readership who actually know the law to correct my misunderstanding.

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