It's the congress you are accusing of operating on a "whim".
They authorized the use of military force against members of Alqueda and the Taliban- not the executive.
If you can think of a safer place to put the war power than in the legislature, offer an amendment to the constitution and it wil be well received.
During wartime that second job is very important to our national survival.
The focus is on a couple of guys who are incidentally American citizens who are being held as enemy combatants. I suppose we could ship one of them back to the field of battle for Mr. Karzai to take care of. With respect to Mr. Padilla, if they'd simply announce the time and place they were going to release him, that would resolve that issue.
I saw what public spirited citizens did to the special traffic flow control entrance light system installed in California on the Freeways. Presumably there are other public spirited citizens with at least that much concern over a guy whose intention was to acquire the materials to build a "dirty bomb" and kill tens of thousands of innocent people.
It's like this, if the Executive can't handle Padilla because the Supreme Court says Padilla has rights that supersede the right of the People to protect themselves, then just turn him loose!