So much for a fair trial for everyone

[cheerful_deviant]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon on Saturday disavowed a senior official's remarks suggesting companies boycott law firms that represent detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Charles "Cully" Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, said in a radio interview last week that companies might want to consider taking their business to firms that do not represent suspected terrorists.

Full Story

Personally, I hope they fire his ass for those statements. I know every person is entitled to their own opinion, but for an official to be saying that kind of thing undermines our whole judicial system.

I'm no fan of skeezy high priced lawyers getting the wealthy out of trouble, but every person is supposed to have the right to be represented by a lawyer in an American court. If lawyers and even whole firms start being blacklisted for representing unpopular clients then where will the accused turn to?

Or maybe we could go back to "Guilty until proven innocent."

Oh, sorry, that's what we already have at Gitmo.

 

[starrkers]

Guilty? There's an Aussie there whose been held for five years without even being charged. And he's been in isolation for the last four.
The time has long since past to either charge him or release him.

Guantanamo Bay is not doing the US any favours PR wise with the rest of the world.

 

[angelicminx]

Or maybe we could go back to "Guilty until proven innocent."

Oh, sorry, that's what we already have at Gitmo.

Not just at Gitmo... it's everywhere.

On second thought, it's "Guilty until you can afford to prove your innocence".

 

[cloudy]

Not just at Gitmo... it's everywhere.

Indeed.

Want to really scare yourself? Read "In the Spirit of Crazy Horse."

 

[Lee Chambers]

This is some manner of bullshit. Is this what it's come to now? Our own government is going to start strong arming everyone who wants to see some justice given? Whether or not the people in Gitmo are innocent they all deserve to be represented. A lawyer isn't just someone who can make a nice speech to get someone off the hook. They know the laws and the procedures, what paperwork needs to be filed, what evidence they're entitled to and what they can (legally) keep hidden from their opponents.

This man needs to be dismissed from his post, because if these are the kinds of people who are incharge of detainee affairs then the entire system has just been proven to be corrupt.

 

[Adrenaline]

What a fucker. Since when did US intelligence become a god that when they detained suspected "terrorists" were final judgements without room for error or bias, influenced by how many external factors?

I sincerely hope he's not reflecting a general attitude at the Pentagon.

 

[CharleyH]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon on Saturday disavowed a senior official's remarks suggesting companies boycott law firms that represent detainees at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Charles "Cully" Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, said in a radio interview last week that companies might want to consider taking their business to firms that do not represent suspected terrorists.

Full Story

Personally, I hope they fire his ass for those statements. I know every person is entitled to their own opinion, but for an official to be saying that kind of thing undermines our whole judicial system.

I'm no fan of skeezy high priced lawyers getting the wealthy out of trouble, but every person is supposed to have the right to be represented by a lawyer in an American court. If lawyers and even whole firms start being blacklisted for representing unpopular clients then where will the accused turn to?

Or maybe we could go back to "Guilty until proven innocent."

Oh, sorry, that's what we already have at Gitmo.

In the current milieu? I think the whole of the USA should be boycotted - but it is simply an opinion.

 

[Adrenaline]

From Boing Boing

Guatanamo detainees laywer posts video to Youtube

David sez, "Now that habeas corpus has been eliminated there are no traditional means to advocate for the rights of detainees and Guantanamo. Here is a video put together by the public defenders office in Oregon, released on youtube, about their client Adel Hamad, a hospital charity worker and ping pong player who sits in Guantanamo since 2002. The lawyers traveled to Afghanistan and Pakistan to tape video testimony of people who knew and worked with Mr. Hamad. But the U.S. government does not seem interested in this added material.

Here's the link to the video: http://projecthamad.org/hamad-video/

 

[rgraham666]

What you resist, you become. Right, tovarich Stimson?