Not since the infamous acquittal of O.J. Simpson has the American jury system so utterly failed as it did this week in acquitting on all but one charge former Guantanamo detainee Ahmed Ghailani, an al-Qaida terrorist responsible for the deaths of 224 people. A New York City jury managed to convict Ghailani on only one charge — conspiracy to destroy U.S. government property — in the attack on U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
But the failure is not just that of one criminal jury but of the Obama administration, which decided to try enemy combatants in American criminal courts. Instead of admitting their serious error in judgment, administration officials said they were “pleased” with the outcome because Ghailani would serve a minimum of 20 years in prison for his crimes.
