Pentagon official witch-hunts Guantánamo detainees’ lawyers

Channeling witch-hunter Joe McCarthy, Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, read off the names of firms contracted to provide defense for detainees in an interview conducted by Federal News Radio, a Washington DC station with a regular audience of government employees. He went on to insinuate that some attorneys were receiving payment for their services, perhaps from dubious sources.

When the interviewer asked who was paying for the legal representation, Stimson replied, “It’s not clear, is it? Some will maintain that they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart, that they’re doing it pro bono, and I suspect they are; others are receiving moneys from who knows where, and I’d be curious to have them explain that.”

He said further, “I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.”

Indicating the outcome he was aiming at, Stimson continued, “I think the news story that you’re really going to start seeing in the next couple of weeks is this: As a result of a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request through a major news organization, somebody asked, ‘Who are the lawyers around this country representing detainees down there?’ and you know what, it’s shocking.” The FOIA request he referred to was one submitted by Monica Crowley, a right-wing radio talk show host who recently asked for the names of lawyers and firms representing detainees.

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http://wsws.org/articles/2007/jan2007/guan-j22.shtml