If every time the fearmongers rolled out their dog and pony show, the Obama Administration would go on the attack and focus on how stupid and inhumane Bush Administration policy was, then maybe it would open up enough space to actually move beyond those stupid policies.

The jury in Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani’s trial for his role in the 1998 embassy bombings has found him guilty of conspiracy, but not the charges of terrorism he was accused of. With the one count, however, he may still face a life sentence.

It seems that the problem is not just that the government tortured Ahmed Ghailani and now want to use his testimony under torture to help convict him, but that they may have continued to coerce witnesses — in unknown ways — to get a conviction for Ghailani.

This is a critical ruling and, while it should not be this way, a refreshingly positive one for the health and sanctity of the Constitution and federal Article III courts.

Not that anybody would know it, but there has been a terror trial going on all week in a real live Article III courtroom in the heart of Manhattan. Exactly like all the Republicans with vapors and trembling Democrats said could not be safely done.

In a ruling that anticipates how the government will ignore torture as it tries alleged detainees in civilian court, Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani’s efforts to get his indictment for contributing to the 1998 embassy bombings dismissed because he was tortured while in US custody.

Ahmed Ghailani’s lawyers argue that, since he is being tried on an indictment that was pending through the entire period of his detention, he has been deprived of his right to a speedy trial.