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U.S. to Free ‘Enemy Combatant,’ Bowing to Supreme Court Ruling. Another disgraceful failure for the Bush administration.

Yaser E. Hamdi, an American citizen captured in Afghanistan and once deemed so dangerous that the American military held him incommunicado for more than two years as an enemy combatant, will be freed and allowed to return to Saudi Arabia in the next few days, officials said Wednesday.

[snip]
“It’s quite something for the government to declare this person one of the worst of the worst, hold him for almost three years and then, when they’re told by the Supreme Court to give him a fair hearing, turn around and give up,” said David Cole, a law professor at Georgetown University who has been critical of the administration.

Anthony Romero, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union, added in an interview that “this clearly shows that the government was not able to meet the burden of proof that the Supreme Court had set for it, and rather than risk further embarrassment in a failed prosecution, they’ve decided to just send him out of the country.”

Looks like Ebay isn’t closing down half.com after all.

San Jose, California-based eBay, which had planned to shut Half.com on Oct. 14, now says it will keep the site open “indefinitely.”