Hey, remember when conservatives, nay, most of the nation warned that trying enemy combatants in domestic courts might cause a few legal problems? That these individuals, who were understandably interrogated for information about pending attacks, might walk free now that they have the same rights as trespassers?

Yeah, welcome to nightmare-becomes-reality:

In a ruling this week, U.S. District Judge Thomas Hogan also said the government failed to establish that 23 statements the detainee made to interrogators at Guantanamo Bay were untainted by the earlier coerced statements made while he was held under harsh conditions in Afghanistan.

However, the judge said statements he made during two military administrative hearings at the U.S. detention center in Cuba, where he was assisted by a personal representative, were reliable and sufficient to justify holding the detainee…

The logical inference from the record, said the judge, is that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay reviewed Al Madhwani’s coerced confessions with him and asked him to make identical confessions…

Despite Hogan’s concerns about the 23 statements, the judge relied on other evidence and three statements Al Madhwani made to a military tribunal and a review board to conclude that he trained, traveled and associated with members of al-Qaida, including high-level operatives. On those grounds, the judge ruled he is legally detained.

In other words, the al-Qaeda associate was interrogated while under “harsh” conditions in the war zone. So his confession can’t be used in his trial. Because this is a domestic trial usually reserved for, oh, domestic criminals.

His statements would be considered legitimate were he tried in a military tribunal. But Obama decided that wasn’t Hope’N'Changey enough. So now we run the risk of al-Qaeda operatives walking free in the United States. All to make MoveOn.org happy about our detention procedures.

Welcome to Barack Obama’s America.

Update: Incidentally, the judge made the right decision. It would be a dangerous precedent to allow coerced confessions in a domestic court. That’s why the case should never have been brought outside a military tribunal.