While it remains unclear whether the United States will create a commission of inquiry to investigate abuses committed after September 11, the process of reconciliation that might be one aspect of such a commission has actually already been started by a former Guantanamo detainee and a former Guantanamo guard.

Omar Khadr, one of the two Guantanamo detainees charged with crimes, was to be tried in a "military commission" on Monday. Instead, an Army judge ruled that the commission lacks jurisdiction over Khadr in light of the classification that Guantanamo authorities applied to Khadr years ago. Of course, this doesn't...