Terrorist Lawyers

Monday's Wall Street Journal printed an article by Debra Burlingame and Thomas Joscelyn about some of the activities of the lawyers who have represented the terrorists at Guantanamo.  The story begins on January 26, 2006, when a brochure was found in the cell of one of the prisoners.  The brochure was put out by amnesty international and decried American abuse of Muslim prisoners and America's war on Islam.  (Amnesty International has a history of supporting anti-democracy forces in its claims of abuse).  When the detainee was asked where he got the brochure, he said that he had gotten it from his lawyer through "legal mail," privileged lawyer-client communications that are exempt from screening by security personnel.  The literature was shared with other detainees. 

Mrs. Burlingame further relates:

'The Amnesty International brochure, handed out at a human rights conference in London, was a political advocacy screed in clear violation of that order, which was formulated to protect force security. Maj. Gen. Hood made a command decision. He banned the Paul, Weiss lawyers from access to Guantanamo. The DOJ notified the firm.'

The firm promptly sued the government.  The government reached a settlement with the Paul Weiss lawyers, and they were again given access to Guantanamo prisoners.  The story continues:

"On Feb. 20, 2007, a post on the Paul, Weiss Web site proudly announced "Paul, Weiss achieves more victories for Guantanamo detainees." Two detainees were released from Gitmo to their home in Saudi Arabia. One was Majeed Abdullah Al Joudi, a recipient of the Amnesty International "report." The Web site needs an update. The Pentagon has identified Al Joudi as a "confirmed" recidivist who is "directly involved" with the facilitation of "terrorist activities.""

The question now being asked is how many of the lawyers in the current Justice Department were part of the Paul Weiss team.  Please follow the link to read the entire story of what has gone on regarding Guantanamo.  We handled this sort of thing much more effectively during World War II.