Why?

Are we even discussing this, that's what I'd like to know:

...

There is no greater betrayal of the core principles of American political life than to have the federal government sweep people off the streets, throw them into a black hole with no contact with the outside world and no charges asserted of any kind, and simply keep them there for as long as the President desires -- in al-Marri's case, with respect to detention, now five years and counting.

As always, the most extraordinary and jarring aspect of cases like this one is that these principles -- which were once the undebatable, immovable bedrock of our political system -- are now openly debated and actively disputed by our own government. By itself it is astonishing -- and highly revealing about where we are as a country -- that such precepts even need to be defended at all.

I just can't wrap my head around the fact we are having the discussion, let alone putting it into law. This is America, dammit, and debating incarceration without charge in this country is as crazy as an Orthodox Jew debating whether to buy Virginia ham because it's on sale. The idea should be repellent and appalling to every American.