The Washington Post has a very good editorial on the danger to constitutional liberties by the Administration's actions in the Dirty Bomber matter.

Detaining Americans (washingtonpost.com) Less encouraging are the events that followed his arrest. Mr. al Muhajir has been held for a month in secret by the Justice Department -- apparently as a material witness -- and he has now been transferred to the custody of the military and is being treated as an enemy detainee. This transfer appears to have been accomplished not as a result of a court order but at the sole discretion of the president and his administration. Administration officials acknowledged yesterday that as a citizen, Mr. al Muhajir cannot be tried before a military commission. So the idea seems to be to hold him indefinitely as a combatant -- in a war that the administration has repeatedly stated is no temporary state of hostilities but a permanent new reality. Asked if Mr. al Muhajir even had a lawyer, Deputy Attorney General Larry Thompson conspicuously spoke in the past tense: "He was being held under the authority of a federal judge, and he had legal representation in connection with that." Yes, but what about now that he is being held by the military without judicial oversight?