Because there is nothing you can do that is a big enough screw-up in the Bush administration that you won't be praised for it. At a time when the Middle East is in flames, rewarding one of the architects of Abu Ghraib is more than a little stupid. Message: Bush doesn't care.
William Haynes II, the Pentagon’s general counsel, has been closely involved in shaping some of the Bush administration’s most legally and morally objectionable policies, notably on the use of torture. The last thing he is suited to be is a federal judge, but that is just what President Bush wants to make him. The Senate has been far too willing to rubber-stamp the president’s extreme judicial nominees. But there is reason to hope that strong opposition to Mr. Haynes, including from the military, may block this thoroughly inappropriate choice.
