THANKS ABA???

Speaking of inconvenient truths (were we not?) The American Bar Association (ABA) is the largest bar association in this country. Much to its shame the ABA has pretty much stood on the sidelines while the rule of law has dissolved these past ten years, rarely taking a public stand regarding such issues as the illegality of “torture” “rendition” or “indefinite detention without charge.”

So I guess it should come as no surprise when the President of the ABA, Carolyn Lamm, decided to make a statement in support of those of us representing Guantanamo detainees that she would do so in such a way as to reinforce the stereotypes of the ignorant rather than as an opportunity to educate the American people as to why Guantanamo and these policies are wounding our legal system.

Here is what Ms. Lamm had to say:

"A fundamental tenet of our justice system is that any one who faces loss of liberty has a right to legal counsel. Lawyers have an ethical obligation to uphold that principle and provide representation to people who otherwise would stand alone against the power and resources of the government--even to those accused of heinous crimes against this nation in the name of causes that evoke our contempt. The American people understand this obligation, and the corollary principle that representing a client is a commitment to a legal system that requires justice, not to any one client's political, economic, social or moral views or activities. Impugning the character of lawyers who have sought to protect the fundamental rights of unpopular clients is a divisive and diversionary tactic." (my emphasis)

Maybe someone with more time on their hands could point out to Ms. Lamm that we (the Guantanamo Attorneys) are fighting for our Constitution and the rule of law. Perhaps Ms. Lamm does not know that the men at Guantanamo have not been charged with any crime...nor will the vast majority of them ever be charged.... As to Ms. Lamm’s characterization of our clients as taking part in the name of "cause[s] that evoke our contempt" Yikes....I don't even want to know what she is referring to there… but suffice it to say that if she is suggesting that our clients have been engaged in any type of terrorists activity let me remind her that in this country a person is innocent until proven guilty…at least that is how is used to be.

Thanks for your help Ms. Lamm

A WORD ABOUT COMMENTS

Until today I never censored a comment on this blog and I hope I will never have to do so again. I will not allow any comment on here that suggests that it is ok to harm government employees...or anyone else for that matter.

The Wing Nuts latest attack....

Several of you have email me today to send me some of the articles and to get my opinion regarding the latest attack by the right wing nuts against the Gitmo lawyers. Once again they are focusing on the big firms that are representing or that have represented Guantanamo prisoners...but now they have upped the attacks by going after current Department of Justice attorneys who have either represented Guantanamo prisoners or who have worked in big firms that have represented Gitmo prisoners (and believe me there are not enough of them in the DOJ). ThinkProgress looks at some of those attacks here.

This was actually a tactic raised a few years ago which I reported on in the HuffingtonPost here. That attack was quickly put down by the organized bar and I expect the same will happen this time around.

Meanwhile I will just add a little fuel to the fire by pointing out that several of the big law firms that have or still are representing prisoners at Guantanamo also have partners from the far right wing.... Bush's Attorney General Michael Mukasey comes to mind as an example.... perhaps Mr. Mukasey and others should resign if they think it is improper for members of their firm to be protecting the Constitution in this manner.

And if Attorneys like Mukasey think it is ok for their firms to engage in this work (and certainly they knew when they joined their firms of the probono work that their firm were engaged in) then perhaps they should make a public statement supporting the work of their firms.

Just thinkin out loud........

Kiyemba vacated

Well the good news is that today the Supreme Court vacated the DC Circuit Court ruling in the Kiyemba case. The bad news is that the Guantanamo prisoners have a meaningless right to Habeas Review.

It is meaningless because the Judge's cannot order release here in the United States.

So, we....(the habeas counsel and our clients)...have come full circle... sort of: The Supreme Court said yes...our clients are entitled to have an attorney and a review of their status...yes they are entitled to habeas corpus....but "no comment" on whether a federal court can ORDER their release.

If you did not throw your pen up in the air and sigh....you should have.

Click on the title for more.........

The Role of a Judge

The role of a judge is to be impartial, fair and unbiased. To follow the laws and the constitution and to listen to all of the evidence without passing judgment until all of the evidence is heard.

Representing guantanamo detainees is not easy. I am equally sure that being a judge in these cases is also not an easy job.

But we all have a duty to do our best and to follow the rules.

In my humble opinion, this is not the role of the Judge:

http://pegc.us/archive/Ali_v_Obama/ (you can read all five documents or cut to the heart of things and just read this.)

And certainly it is not the role of Government attorneys to be contacting judges outside the presence of opposing counsel (in this case me) to discuss rulings by the Judge or the requirements of the Government to produce discovery:

Unfortunately our Government does not seem to understand.

(please note that the attorney who wrote this letter is not accused of any misconduct...she had the unfortunate job of being the messenger....In my opinion this was an unfair task given to her and the letter should have been written by her superiors...but they of course did not ask my opinion.)

Thanks to Charly Gittings at the Project to Enforce the Geneva Conventions for providing the link.

4 released today

Again none of the men released today is a client of mine. Three went to Albania (which really shows that just about anywhere is better than Guantanamo!) The three were originally from Tunisia, Egypt and Libya.

One man, a Palestinian, was released to Spain.

OPR Report(s) Released

First, Holder deserves a lot of credit for releasing the draft reports too...it gives the full picture of the whitewash done by Margolis... I have too much on my plate right now so I cannot give these reports the kind of look that needs to be done...suffice it to say that the original report found that Yoo and Bybee were involved in misconduct and should be referred to disciplinary committees. Emptywheel has a working thread starting with the first draft...if you have the time read the comments too as there many others going through those documents and adding important citations.

Click on the title to get to the actual reports.

And if you have time take a look at Jack Balkin's comments here.

The Political Hostage

You have read about Binyam Mohamed at this site over the years...most recently in relation to the British High Court forcing the release of a seven paragraph summary related to the torture of Binyam while in US custody. I just learned from Andy Worthington that Binyam has started a website.

Click on the title for more.

Inch by Inch....

Binyon Mohamed is a British resident who was held by the US at various black sites until transferred to Guantanamo. The torture he was subjected to included having a razor blade taken to his penis. He was released from Guantanamo and returned back to Britain in 2008. Binyon charged that the British Government was complicit in his torture and sought documentation that the American Govcrnment provided to the Brits regarding his torture. The British Government did not want to turn that information over. Today it was forced to release a summary (which shows that the US was threatening Binyon with sending him back to those who cut up his penis). British Foreign Secretary David Milliband made the following statement today to the house of commons. Also check out Jim Whites article on FDL pointing out that the language used by the British high court including that key phrase in describing the conduct of the US as "cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment." That language parallels the language in the Convention against Torture, signed by that left wing president, Ronnie Reagan... Seems we have been formally accused of violating that little law and we are required to do an investigation... Don't hold your breath.

Click on the title for more.

Did I mention things are getting worse?

sigh........

click on the title for more....

Seton Hall's follow up...on the Deaths at Guantanamo

If you are going to spin a tale it is important to keep track of what you already said...our military is good at spinning tales but not quite so good at keeping track of its earlier spins....Seton Hall unravels the contradictions by the Defense Department as the DOD tries to react to allegations raised by Scott Horton and Seton Hall regarding the deaths of three men at Guantanamo in 2006.

Click on the title to review Seton Hall's latest report "DOD Contradicts DOD, An Analysis of the Response to Death at Camp Delta."

I cannot find a working link to the actual response by the DOD but this link will give you a summary and if someone has the actual link to the DOD response please leave it for me in the comments.

DEATH CAMP.... CONTINUED

Although our Government and the press continue to ignore this story Scott Horton has been moving forward with his own investigation. Here is an interview Scott did with Rashid Mesli from the human rights organization Alkarama. Alkarama was contacted by the family of one of the three men that died at Guantanamo that June night in 2006 and asked to help arrange for an independent autopsy of their son Ahmed Ali Al-Salami. Problem was that important body parts were missing...the throat for example.

Next, Scott poses six questions for Michael Baden, former chief medical examiner of New York City, almost as an expert witness, to discuss various aspects of the military's claim that Al-Salami committed suicide, the missing body parts and the autopsy arranged by Al-Salami's family.

Ya think?

Seems that good old fashion interrogations (no, not like the kind done here in Chicago) work better than torture.....

Click on the title for more.

Sweeping it under the rug...

Seems the "justice" department is getting ready to release its report on the authors of our torture policies...primarily Yoo and Bybee... and it also seems that the report that is about to be released has been rewritten in the last few months to downgrade the conduct of the torturers to "bad judgment." Scott Horton has more here.

Fortunately, as Scott points out in the above article, the Spanish are still going ahead with a criminal inquiry regarding this very same conduct by these very same men in relation to the torture of five Spanish citizens at Guantanamo. In going ahead with the inquiry the Spanish Court "concluded that the American Justice Department was not involved in any credible effort to investigate or prosecute torture cases connected with Guantánamo."

MORE ON CAMP "NO"

Scott Horton has more information about the hidden camp at Guantanamo. It has been suggested that this is the camp that has housed several "high value" detainees that the Bush administration claimed to move to Guantanamo in 2006. Where they and others really at Camp No that whole time?

Is this where much of the waterboarding took place?

Click on the title for Scott Horton's latest....and

stay tuned for more....because there is more.