Saturday, January 13, 2007

A Dark and Brutish Place


The Bush/Cheney era has cast a dark pall over American democracy and that nation's cherished freedoms and rights. Sadly, the November elections have not yet brought light to Washington.

Now the Pentagon is openly attacking prominent American law firms that have chosen to act for Guantanimo detainees.

This crass smear campaign comes from Charles D. Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs.

"In a radio interview [on a Washington, DC station], Mr. Stimson said: '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 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 F.O.I.A. reference was to a Freedom of Information Act request submitted by Monica Crowley, a conservative syndicated talk show host, asking for the names of all the lawyers and law firms representing Guantánamo detainees in federal court cases.

"Mr. Stimson, who is himself a lawyer, then went on to name more than a dozen of the firms listed on the 14-page report provided to Ms. Crowley, describing them as 'the major law firms in this country.' He said, 'I think, quite honestly, when corporate C.E.O.’s see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those C.E.O.’s 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.'”

"The same point appeared Friday on the editorial page of The Wall Street Journal, where Robert L. Pollock, a member of the newspaper’s editorial board, cited the list of law firms and quoted an unnamed 'senior U.S. official' as saying, 'Corporate C.E.O.’s seeing this should ask firms to choose between lucrative retainers and representing terrorists.'”

In a healthy democracy there would be sufficient respect for the independence and integrity of the nation's judicial system that tactics such as these would be promptly denounced and officials such as Stimson sent packing. However this is Washington, and it remains a truly dark and brutish place.

No comments: