Mohammed Sulaymon Barre, detained for going on eight years now at Guantanamo Bay, will file — finally — a habeas petition today in federal court. It’s a measure of how far we’ve sunk that something that’s supposed to be routine feels like a victory.

Barre, 42, is one of three Guantanamo detainees with U.N. refugee status. In Pakistan, he worked for a well-known money transfer company with offices worldwide. Military officials allege he had contact with terrorism financiers.

Barre has denied those accusations and has asked for proof, which he and Dixon say the government has never provided. "Terror is what departed me from my country and I am one of the people who hates terror most," Barre told a military panel in 2005.

Among the things I hate so much about Bush is that this man could very well be guilty. But anyone with a brain knew that the Supreme Court would inevitably strike down the denial of habeas, even with the rightwingers attempting to stack the deck. So now actual evidence that might indeed justify Barre’s convinction will probably be inadmissible. That’s the thing about injustice: it means the guilty go free. Never listen to anyone who tells you the right has a fucking clue how to make this country safer.