Abstract
Perception is a funny thing. Markets rise and fall largely on perception – the perception of an economy's strength, a banking system's integrity, a company's relative worth. Lately, our markets have been falling. Perception is similarly key to the success of America's foreign policy. The perception after 9/11 that we were the victims of an unprovoked attack garnered sympathy and support from around the world. But that perception changed after the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003. Suddenly, the U.S. was viewed as only interested in advancing its own cause in its own way and the rest of the world, including our allies, could go fly a kite.
The military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba became emblematic of this latter perception and in many ways cemented it. Widely viewed as a "legal black hole" into which those captured in the global war on terror were dumped, the legal process afforded detainees at Gitmo was far less than that required by the Constitution, the Geneva Conventions, or regular military law. Military commissions established by executive order effectively stripped away a defendant's right to challenge his detention, introduce or rebut reliable evidence, call witnesses or even consult with legal counsel of his own choice. President Obama railed against this injustice as a Senator and cheered the Supreme Court when it consistently rebuked President Bush's repeated attempts to legitimize his treatment of detainees.