Gitmo's Indefensible Lawyers

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."

Yousef Al Shehri, the detainee who led his cell block in the feeding tube rebellion, was also released in November 2007. In early 2009 he was listed on the Saudi Kingdom's list of 85 "most wanted" extremists. Yousef was killed last October during a shootout with Saudi security forces on his way to a martyrdom operation. He and another jihadist, disguised as women and wearing suicide vests, killed a security officer in the clash. Yousef's brother-in-law, Said Al Shehri, also released from Gitmo, is currently the second in command of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the branch that launched the Christmas Day airline attack last year.

Attorney General’s Duplicity Overlooked by Media Cheerleaders
By Jim Kouri Sunday, March 14, 2010

In 1999, Eric Holder helped arrange Bill Clinton pardons for 16 unrepentant members of FALN who had been convicted of “a variety of charges that included conspiracy, sedition, violation of the Hobbes Act (extortion by force, violence or fear), armed robbery and illegal possession of weapons and explosives—including large quantities of C-4 plastic explosive, dynamite and huge caches of ammunition.”

More and more Americans are discovering that the Obama Administration’s definition of transparency is more Clintonian and semantic than it is honest and encouraging.
The latest embarrassment for the Obama White House is the discovery that Attorney General Eric Holder has been less than forthcoming about his activities prior to being appointed U.S. Attorney General.
Justice Department officials have admitted that when members of the U.S. Senate—including Judiciary Committee members—were considering the nomination of Eric Holder as President Obama’s attorney general last year, he failed to disclose all of the legal briefs he had written or signed from his time in private practice especially those briefs that are pertinent to his current positions and views during the so-called war on terrorism.
“Holder has now decided to be open and transparent with the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding his lapse remembering to turn over copies of his legal filings, including Amicus briefs on behalf of detained terrorists and enemy combatants,” said Mike Baker, political strategist and private practice attorney.

“Holder also used the oldest trick in the book: he made his official statement on a Friday afternoon during a busy news cycle,” Baker said.

“As part of Holder’s confirmation process, a list of legal briefs to the committee was turned over to senate staffers,” he said. And the list turned over to the Senate Judiciary Committee did not include filings in about seven cases.

The issue of Holder’s past legal papers came up after some Republicans asked why lawyers who had previously done legal work for terror detainees now had jobs in the Justice Department, something President Barack Obama successfully avoided discussing, and something conveniently overlooked by a Justice Department now saturated with Holder colleagues whose work records show they defended terrorism suspects and ‘Gitmo’ detainees.

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http://www.canadafreepress.com/printpage.php

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