Convictions: Slate's blog on legal issues

Donnez-Moi la Fourchette?

Eric, I don’t think you’ve correctly stated the Bazelon/Lithwick standard here: It’s not that all Pentagon balking is per se evidence of crap commissions. It’s that the balking, plus the seven years of after-the-fact tinkering (the CSRT “do-overs” or the Bush-appointed Court of Military Commission Review), plus the international condemnation, plus the choose-your-own-ending playbook are evidence of crap commissions. Your characterization of our argument as “so long as the insiders balk, the commissions must be flawed” overstates the point. Our point was that when even the insiders start to revolt, it’s hard to ignore what everyone else has known all along.