War crimes trial reveals a lot about ourselves

Thursday's decision by a federal judge to allow the first military trial of a Guantanamo Bay detainee, after lengthy pretrial proceedings, shows the strength of the U.S. system of justice. Even facing the opposition of U.S. leaders and contradictory legal precedents, the judiciary has forced an overly aggressive executive branch to respect the rights of the accused. This is a basic American value. As a result, the trial of Osama bin Laden's former driver, scheduled to begin next week, is probably going to be nothing like what the administration intended when it convinced Congress to establish a tribunal system for detainees captured in the war on terror. Detainee Salim Hamdan is going to be able to see the evidence against him and bring in other detainees as witnesses as a result of the legal process, over the objections of the Bush administration. U.S. citizens can be proud of upholding this nation's founding principles in the face of White House opposition cloaked in false patriotism, whether Hamdan is guilty or not.