Posted on 03/01/2010 6:04:14 AM PST by reaganaut1
One reason for the ongoing battle between Sen. Chuck Grassley and the Department of Justice over the identities of as many as 13 to 16 current Obama Administration political appointees who provided legal counsel to suspected or convicted terrorists and enemy combatants being held in detention, is not so much what these lawyers did before joining the administration. Rather, says a Department of Justice source, it stems from the administration's own attempts to identify any official paper or email trails of those DOJ attorneys that would reveal not just past but current efforts -- since their appointment, in other words -- to influence administration or department policies on the legal treatment of suspected or indicted terrorists and enemy combatants.
The most intensive review of documents over the past several weeks, says the source, has focused on the little known Law and Policy office, which resides in the National Security Division inside the department. The NSD, parts of which had previously resided inside the Criminal Division, also houses an Office of Intelligence Policy and Review. "When some of these political appointees came into the Administration, I think it was safe to say that there was keen interest on their part to influence policy here," says the source. "At the highest level, people want to know how big a mess this really is. Were there emails or memos shared among the political appointees or the NSD staff that could create problems for us, for example."
Grassley has for months been requesting the names and positions of all Obama Department of Justice attorneys -- almost all of them political appointees -- who prior to joining the administration worked directly or indirectly for suspected terrorists or enemy combatants.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
"Ironically, say DOJ sources, while Holder and his staff continue to work hard to protect the identities of those attorneys who provided legal advice to suspected or convicted terrorists, several of the attorneys in question are believed to have been instrumental in the efforts of Human Rights Watch and CREW to leak to the media and Democrat supporters on Capitol Hill, the names of CIA interrogators of enemy combatants and suspected terrorists, as well as the locations of foreign-based U.S. secure holding facilities and various interrogation techniques used on terror suspects and enemy combatants."
Shouldn’t it be trivial to get the names of political appointees?
Shouldn’t it be trivial to get the names of federal employees? Of executive branch employees?
If they are political appointees, their names are a matter of public record. I think they are making a big mistake in refusing to simply provide Grassley with the names, because it draws more attention to the kind of people Holder and BO appoint.
Of course, but this is the 0bama administration, nothing is as it seems.
Because, it should be trivial, it makes me wonder whether the story is true. And whether anybody actually is having difficulty of determining the identities of these attorneys.
bttt
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