U.S. military judges have dropped all war crimes charges against the only two Guantanamo prisoners facing trial by military tribunal. The judges said they lacked jurisdiction under the strict definition of those eligible for trial under the Military Commissions Act, enacted by Congress last year. The rulings are the latest setback for the Bush administration’s efforts to put prisoners at Guantanamo through some form of judicial process. It was forced to rewrite the rules last year after the U.S. Supreme Court deemed the old tribunals illegal. Charges were dropped against Omar Khadr, a Canadian captured in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old. He was accused of killing a U.S. soldier with a grenade and wounding another. Charges were also dropped for Salim Ahmed Hamdan of Yemen, who is accused of driving and guarding Osama bin Laden.

Marine Colonel Dwight Sullivan, the chief of military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay: “This indicated that the commission system cannot proceed. Once again there’s a fundamental impediment to the military commission proceeding. Once again the military commission system has demonstrated that it’s a failure. Once again we see a demonstration that we can’t just set up another system of justice and call it justice.”

The American Civil Liberties Union said the decision proves the military commission proceedings are fundamentally flawed. Jameel Jaffer of the ACLU said the Bush administration should try the prisoners in ordinary courts martial or civilian courts.

Jameel Jaffer: “The judge has said that the tribunal does not have the authority to try Omar Khadr on the grounds on which the court has made that decision are far-reaching and are going to have real consequences not only for Khadr but for other prisoners who have been tried and may be tried in the future.”

Despite Monday’s rulings, both of the Guantanamo prisoners will remain in custody and in legal limbo at the detention camp.