Friday, January 12, 2007

again the ugly side of the bush administration

I didn't hear the radio interview, but the Washington Post editorial page picked up on the comments of Pentagon official Cully Stimson, a "deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs." Stimson, out of the blue, said that it was "shocking" that major American law firms were representing detainees. When asked who was paying their fees, he went all mysterious and said they should explain themselves. Oh, and Stimson named names.

That is pretty dark stuff. Stimson basically called these law firms traitors, and all but said that they were collaborators with terrorist organizations. He also said that he thought this would become a big story in the media soon. That would only be, of course, if the de facto Bush Administration is able to get its usual right-wing media chorus to take up the song. Watch the Drudge Report, Fox News, and the other usual suspects in the GOP's media empire to see if this happens.

But you shouldn't be surprised that the Bushies don't much care for giving detainees legal representation. After all, Bush's own home state of Texas is notorious for grossly inadequate legal counsel for poor defendants, which is why you sometimes see a drunken real estate lawyer representing some poor inner city kid in a case that could result in the death penalty. Why treat detainees in Guantanamo any better than people in Texas?

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Don't you think attorneys making sport of defending terrorists are traitors? If not traitors, they are at least bringing up a very interesting ethical dilemma.

5:54 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home