{"id":390392,"date":"2010-03-04T20:36:17","date_gmt":"2010-03-05T01:36:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/firedoglake.com\/?p=70829"},"modified":"2010-03-04T20:36:17","modified_gmt":"2010-03-05T01:36:17","slug":"that-sweet-spot-between-mccarthyism-and-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/390392","title":{"rendered":"That Sweet Spot Between McCarthyism and Hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"port-a-potty,<\/a><\/p>\n

The sweet smell of success? (photo: spike55151)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Chuck Grassley and Jeff Sessions have led the McCarthyite charge to slander those Justice Department attorneys who defended Guantanamo detainees. And yet, predictably, these shining specimens voted for the Military Commissions Act of 2006. You know what one of the provisions of the Military Commissions Act was? The right to defense counsel<\/a>. Shocked, I know you are. (Special guest appearance in this post by retired Lt. Cmdr. Charlie Swift, who defended Salim Hamdan.) Also, who said this: “Good lawyers representing the detainees is the best way to ensure that justice is done in these cases.” Yes, the terrorist sympathizer Alberto Gonzales<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Special jackass award goes to the Daily Caller<\/em>’s Meghan Clyne, for writing this<\/a>, in the midst of smearing Neal Katyal’s former intern<\/em> on the Hamdan<\/em> case, who now works for the White House counsel’s office:<\/p>\n

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Others note that everyone \u2014 even an alleged terrorist \u2014 is entitled to a defense. One question often raised, however, is about the motives of private-sector attorneys who can choose their pro bono activities (or, in Kravis\u2019s case, a law student trying to allocate out-of-class time) and decide to expend their efforts on behalf of enemy combatants.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Of course they’re working pro bono. What, they’re going to charge Guantanamo detainees or the government for standing up for the principle of universal access to legal defense? Cully Stimson, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, once intimated something nefarious<\/a> about who was actually paying for this legal work:<\/p>\n

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It\u2019s not clear, is it? Some will maintain that they are doing it out of the goodness of their heart, that they\u2019re doing it pro bono, and I suspect they are; others are receiving moneys from who knows where, and I\u2019d be curious to have them explain that.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The quote Gonzales issued was in response to Stimson. Who resigned soon afterward<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Update<\/em>: Adam Serwer with a serious<\/em> get<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think it\u2019s unfortunate that these individuals are being criticized for their past representation, it reflects the politicization and the polarization of terrorism issues,” Bellinger said. “\u201cneither republicans nor democrats should be attacking officials in each other\u2019s administration\u2019s based solely on the clients they have represented in the past.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had a longstanding tradition in our country for lawyers to represent unpopular causes, and they shouldn\u2019t be attacked for doing so,” Bellinger added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n

That would be Condoleezza Rice’s legal counsel at State and NSC.<\/p>\n

Tags: Alberto Gonzales<\/a>, Charlie Swift<\/a>, DOJ<\/a>, Guantanamo<\/a>, Hamdan<\/a>, Meghan Clyne<\/a>, Military Commissions Act<\/a>, Neal Katyal<\/a>, Salim Hamdan<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Share <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The sweet smell of success? (photo: spike55151) Chuck Grassley and Jeff Sessions have led the McCarthyite charge to slander those Justice Department attorneys who defended Guantanamo detainees. And yet, predictably, these shining specimens voted for the Military Commissions Act of 2006. You know what one of the provisions of the Military Commissions Act was? The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4314,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-390392","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4314"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=390392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/390392\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=390392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=390392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=390392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}