BREAKING: Al Qaeda agent to be tried in civilian court

By GottaLaff

Liveblogging:

Per Rachel Maddow just now: Another anti-Bush move for President Obama. A suspected Al Qaeda sleeper agent is to be tried in a United States civilian court. Criminal charges have been filed.

Think about that: A fair trial. In an American court. For someone arrested in America. This is the first step to bring these people back into the rule of law, as Obama promised he would do early on.

Al-Marri was never allowed to contest or defend himself, until now, per Rachel. This means the U.S. won't hold detainees indefinitely without charges. Obama is doing things differently.

Al-Marri has been tortured, mistreated, and wasn't charged with committing a terrorist act, just thinking about it, per Jane Mayer. He's already spent a lot of time in prison, which would be considered, too.

We're becoming "us" again.

Al-Marri was arrested in 2001 as material witness to the 9/11 attacks.

And now he is being treated as a criminal instead of an enemy combatant. He is no longer in a legal black hole.

UPDATE: Here's a link to the print story.