[Excaliber]

Mistakes will happen, given the fog of war. But not every action a person or Government takes will fall under that heading, nor should it. Where do you draw the line? Thats why we have "rules of war".

While I am surprised the court will allow a law suit to proceed on the matter I must conclude, from the ruling, that this detainment went well beyond the level of a "mistake". Personally, I felt the Bush Administration in general was playing "to fast and to loose" with the rules for to long. Cheney's chatter on the matter only reinforces that gut feeling. I am really glad THAT GUY is out of office, he is far more scary than Obama, in my opinion.

He says the Administration saved thousands of lives, maybe, maybe not. I can't help but wonder if the excesses of the Administration didn't cause MORE harm than good, in the long run?

This is where Machiavelli fails, in my opinion. Some actions cannot be justified, no matter how favorable the outcome may appear to be. There MUST be reasonable rules of engagement. Were they violated in this case? The Federal court did not declare Ashcroft guilty, or even condem the Government for it's actions. They only ruled that sufficient evidence exists to allow the issue to be decided by a Jury.

I wonder how "isolated" this incident actually is? Not only on a Federal level, but a State and local community level. There were reports of some pretty serious actions taken against random Muslims during this time frame. What group will be next when a similiar "call to arms" goes forth?