Guantanamo Lawyers Under The Spotlight

A watchtower at the Guantanamo detention facility. Photo from Radio Free Europe

Bill Puts Scrutiny on Detainees’ Lawyers -- New York Times

WASHINGTON — A provision tucked into a defense bill before Congress would direct the Pentagon’s inspector general to investigate any suspected misconduct by lawyers for Guantánamo Bay detainees, opening a new chapter in a recurrent political controversy over legal ethics and the representation of terrorism suspects.

The measure is part of a major defense bill that the full House of Representatives is expected to begin debating this week. It was added late last week, shortly before the House Armed Services Committee unanimously approved the legislation.

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My Comment: The detainees at Guantanamo should never have been given habeas corpus rights .... and their lawyers should never have disclosed and outed the CIA agents that were involved in the incarceration of these detainees. Having said that .... this bill will do nothing to address these facts.

Lawyers Showed Photos Of Covert CIA Officers To Guantanamo Bay Detainees

Guantanamo court room (Photo from Wikimedia)

From The Washington Post:

The Justice Department recently questioned military defense attorneys at Guantanamo Bay about whether photographs of CIA personnel, including covert officers, were unlawfully provided to detainees charged with organizing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, according to sources familiar with the investigation.

Investigators are looking into allegations that laws protecting classified information were breached when three lawyers showed their clients the photographs, the sources said. The lawyers were apparently attempting to identify CIA officers and contractors involved in the agency's interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects in facilities outside the United States, where the agency employed harsh techniques.

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My Comment: No one is above the law. If these lawyers broke the law .... they should be ready to accept the consequences.