The Meaning of

Under the Bush administration, detainees were either released, tried in civilian court, tried by military tribunals or held indefinitely without trial, depending on the president's whim. Under the Obama administration, detainees will either be released, tried in civilian court, tried by military tribunals or held indefinitely without trial, depending on the president's whim. Furthermore, Obama reserves the right to keep detainees locked up even if they are acquitted, an option that makes you wonder why he bothers with trials at all.

Obama and Bush are also of one mind when it comes to the necessity and propriety of shipping detainees off to cooperating countries that may have fewer compunctions about torture and of listening to Americans' phone calls and reading their email without a warrant. They likewise agree that national security requires the suppression of lawsuits aimed at holding the government accountable for violating people's rights in the name of the War on Terrorism -- excuse me, the War on Terror ists.

Cheney not only exaggerates the differences between his former boss's anti-terrorism policies and Obama's, he puts way too much faith in the power of martial rhetoric to stop bombs from going off. In the case that provoked his tirade, as with the Sept. 11 attacks, it was the government's failure to connect crucial pieces of information that prevented the attacker from receiving the scrutiny he should have.

"We need to ... make sure we can put those pieces together," Brennan said on Sunday, "so that we take every step possible to prevent these individuals from getting on planes." Does such competence require a declaration of war?