He can't be released . . . Never mind

AP Photo

For Salim Ahmed Hamdan, the onetime driver for Osama bin Laden, it may be a case of "all's well that ends well," but Americans who care about due process can't feel the same way. The 40-year-old Yemeni is being returned to his native country after seven years in U.S. custody, mostly at Guantanamo Bay Naval Base. The topline message to the rest of the world is a good one: his release is a reminder that even the most powerful forces in this country can be overcome by court-appointed lawyers and honest jurors. As flawed as the military commission system is, it worked for Hamdan. But Hamdan's repatriation doesn't alter the fact that the Bush administration unsuccessfully opposed his release in accordance with a 66-month sentence imposed by a military commission. (The commission gave Hamdan credit for time served before his trial, meaning that he would be eligible for release in January.)

Hamdan was convicted in August of providing material support for terrorism, but acquitted of the more serious charge of conspiracy to engage in terrorism. The image of Hamdan that emerged from his trial was that of a minor functionary, not an intimate adviser to a master terrorist. The jury was presented with this characterization of Hamdan from 9/11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed:

He did not play any role. He was not a soldier, he was a driver. His nature was more primitive (Bedouin) person and far from civilization. He was not fit to plan or execute.

Prosecutors apparently couldn't convince a military jury otherwise.

But even after Hamdan's sentence was imposed, U.S. officials couldn't let go of him -- neither literally nor as the personification of their argument that the threat posed by inmates at Guantanamo extended beyond "high value" prisoners like KSM. Fortunately, the administration is about to surrender not just Hamdan but also its authority over Guantanamo. That will allow Barack Obama to close the prison and decide how to separate dangerous terrorists held there from those who have been punished enough -- or shouldn't have been punished at all.