Undue Process: The Evisceration of Habeas Corpus

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In mid-October, President George W. Bush signed the Military Commissions Act of 2006, which gives him the power to identify unlawful enemy combatants, to order harsh interrogation of them, and to detain them indefinitely. American forces can snatch an Iraqi man from his bed, shackle him, and ship him off to Guantanamo Bay as a suspected terrorist, where he has no right to a speedy trial.

But what if he's innocent--what if his detention is a mistake caused by the fog of war and the confusion of clashing cultures? The law provides that if a Combatant Status Review Tribunal--or other tribunal established by the president or the secretary of defense--finds that the detainee is an unlawful enemy combatant, that finding is "dispositive." It seems that he can only appeal it to the United States …