CBS: Gitmo Ruling ‘A Big Legal Setback for the President's War on Terror’

At the top of Thursday’s CBS Evening News, anchor Katie Couric referred to a recent court ruling to release five Guantanamo Bay detainees as: "A big legal setback for the president's war on terror." Couric later introduced a report on the ruling and reiterated the idea of the ruling being a defeat solely for President Bush: "...a federal judge ruled today that five suspects held at Guantanamo Bay must be released...it's a major defeat for the Bush administration in its final days."

In the report, correspondent Wyatt Andrews described how: "Defense lawyers call it a victory for American justice and the beginning of the end for Guantanamo." Andrews cited one attorney, Stephen Olesky: " I think many forces are now working toward the closure of Guantanamo and toward ensuring that many of these men who have been held for so long under such desperate circumstances get home." Andrews concluded the report: "...the ruling starts a nightmare for the Pentagon. The military now faces an oncoming rush of 200 Guantanamo appeals, not to mention an incoming president who wants to close the camp altogether." One wonders if CBS will be using the phrase "president’s war on terror" with President Obama.

Here is the full transcript of the segment:

6:30PM TEASE:

KATIE COURIC: A big legal setback for the president's war on terror.

6:38PM SEGMENT:

KATIE COURIC: Turning now to the war on terror, a federal judge ruled today that five suspects held at Guantanamo Bay must be released. As Wyatt Andrews reports, it's a major defeat for the Bush administration in its final days.

WYATT ANDREWS: It's the first time a federal judge has ordered the release of any Guantanamo detainees, who the Pentagon calls enemies of the United States, and it came in the case of six Algerians President Bush accused of targeting the US Embassy in Sarajevo.

GEORGE W. BUSH: Our soldiers, working with the Bosnian government, seized terrorists who were plotting to bomb our embassy.

ANDREWS: But the government had to drop the bombing charges, and Judge Richard Leon ruled the remaining evidence wasn't good enough to hold five of the six detainees '...on so thin a reed.'

STEPHEN OLESKY: Overwhelmed.

ANDREWS: Defense lawyers call it a victory for American justice and the beginning of the end for Guantanamo.

OLESKY: I think many forces are now working toward the closure of Guantanamo and toward ensuring that many of these men who have been held for so long under such desperate circumstances get home.

ANDREWS: Because of government appeals, none of the detainees will be released anytime soon, but the ruling starts a nightmare for the Pentagon. The military now faces an oncoming rush of 200 Guantanamo appeals, not to mention an incoming president who wants to close the camp altogether. The Justice Department complains it had to withhold its most secret evidence because of a court ruling it had to share it all with the defense. Still, after a week's worth of other secret testimony against men held for almost seven years, a federal judge appointed by President Bush has said there's no case. Wyatt Andrews, CBS News, Washington.