Making the case for criminal trials

It’s a strange time for national security politics. Right now, US forces are waging a difficult counter-insurgency war in Afghanistan and a special forces war against Taliban leaders in Pakistan, American troops are drawing down from Iraq, Chinese hackers are launching cyber attacks in the US, and Iran is increasingly belligerent on the nuclear issue. With all that, the only thing conservatives want to talk about on national security is whether terrorists should be arrested, held, and tried in the criminal civilian court system. This should be a simple legal question. If a terrorist breaks a US...