What plan?

As a presidential candidate, Barack Obama made no secret of his plan to begin civilian trials of terrorism suspects and halt the U.S. military’s closed-tribunal form of justice at Guantanamo. The Dallas Morning News made no secret of its support for such a plan.

We assumed, of course, that the Obama administration actually had a plan. The administration’s behavior in recent months suggests that it decided on a new course and started making bold announcements without actually thinking through the mechanics and consequences of these decisions. A perfect example is Attorney General Eric Holder’s November announcement of Manhattan as the venue for the high-profile trial of accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.

Now that New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg is balking at the potential expense and upheaval, the Justice Department is looking for new venues. Holder isn’t the only one embarrassed by this reversal; Bloomberg initially applauded a New York trial so justice could be administered at the scene of the crime.

The first signs of trouble emerged in early December when Bloomberg’s office and New York’s police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, complained that they were not consulted before Holder made his announcement. That suggests a shocking lack of foresight and preparation by Obama’s justice team, especially considering the high stakes of this trial. Obama’s waffling about shutting down Guantanamo only adds to the air of indecisiveness.

In the courtroom, judges justifiably come down hard on ill-prepared lawyers. In the court of public opinion, the administration has earned a strong rebuke for its seat-of-the-pants leadership on Guantanamo and civilian terrorism trials.

— The Dallas Morning News