Posted on 08/23/2021 4:12:16 PM PDT by lasereye
Afghan national Gholan Ruhani maintained his innocence after coalition forces captured him alongside a drug-trafficking militia commander and tossed him in the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Ruhani, represented by white shoe lawyer Rebecca Dick, said he was "a simple shopkeeper who helped Americans."
Not quite. Days ago, Al Jazeera news captured Ruhani with fellow Taliban militants in the presidential palace in Kabul, as they announced the formation of an Islamic emirate. Ruhani, who cradled a machine gun, recited from the Quran and spoke of his time at Guantanamo.
Dick, then a top-flight attorney at Dechert LLP, represented Ruhani and advocated for his repatriation to Afghanistan. She said in a 2008 interview that her clients were not extremists.
"None expresses any interest in harming the U.S.," she said. "Most affirmatively express support for the Karzai government; the others simply do not want to think about or discuss politics."
Her statements were squarely at odds with Defense Departments assessments, which were vindicated by Ruhani's role in the collapse of the Ghani government. Government reports connected Ruhani to the Taliban's intelligence outfit, highlighted his familial ties to senior Taliban leaders, and correctly anticipated that he would join terrorist groups if released.
Now retired, Dick represented Ruhani and seven other Guantanamo detainees from Dechert's Washington offices. Dechert also represented the Iranian-American businessman and Quincy Institute fellow Amir Handjani and threatened to sue the Washington Free Beacon for defamation over its coverage of Handjani’s role as an adviser to the authoritarian sheikh who rules one of the seven United Arab Emirates with an iron fist.
There are obvious inconsistencies between Ruhani's accounts and the body of evidence assembled against him by the Defense Department. For example, he admitted to performing certain menial tasks for the Taliban intelligence unit in Kabul. But he insisted his primary occupation was with his family's electronics store in Ghazni, a city almost 100 miles southeast of the capital.
He also told interrogators he did not have ties to the regime's intelligence chief, Qari Ahmadullah. Ahmadullah is Ruhani's brother-in-law.
A 2007 Defense Department report concluded that Ruhani worked in the operations department of the Taliban's intelligence arm. It assessed that that he could share information about the Taliban's intelligence infrastructure, operational methods, and communications with intelligence officials. The report anticipated that Ruhani "would probably join [anti-coalition militia] groups dedicated to attacking US and coalition forces in Afghanistan if released."
Lawyering on behalf of Guantanamo detainees was a cause célèbre for much of the legal establishment during the War on Terror. Dick is one of numerous corporate lawyers, scholars, and monied industry groups, including the American Bar Association, that counseled and advocated for the detainees.
The praise they accepted for that work makes a striking contrast with Sunday's scene in Kabul. Both Dick and Dechert declined to comment for this story.
Dick was on hand at the Washington, D.C., Ritz Carlton in 2007 to accept a Beacon of Justice Award from the National Legal Aid and Defender Association, given in recognition of Dechert's work on behalf of prisoners at Guantanamo. Dechert highlighted the award in a press release, noting the association selected firms for "providing representation to individuals, despite public criticism." Dechert grossed over $1 billion in revenue in 2020, according to the National Law Journal, making it one of the 50 highest-grossing firms in the world.
The Center for Constitutional Rights cited Dick for "unflagging commitment" to her Guantanamo clients. The center describes itself as a cause-lawyering organization dedicated to "the creative use of law as a positive force for social change."
Dechert itself honored Dick and other colleagues in 2008 at a firm-wide reception that showcased its pro bono accomplishments. She was one of several recipients of the firm's Samuel E. Klein Pro Bono Award. Pictures of the event in a firm newsletter show attendees munching on hors d'oeuvres and drinking champagne.
Question…..
Does the Right have an army of lawyers willing to do work for free like this woman and thousands like her, are willing to do, all in the name of promoting an agenda?
It always amazes me that they seem to have someone on speed dial ready to run to court for anything and everything.
Dump all the ‘refugees’ at Dick’s house and the homes of her firm’s partners.
It stems from the Democrat/commie control of academia. These lawyers are radicalized in college and recruited into the cabal then. Not kidding.
Of course. And they all seem to be very successful. All live in the whitest neighborhoods around.
But someone’s paying the bills. Soros, Gates, whoever. It’d be nice to know
But it’d be equally as nice if there were a counterbalance of the Right.
Bush should have executed them when had the nation behind him.
Major failure.
The upcoming fight with the left isn’t going to be a legal one.
What is with these lawyers?! Like Lynn Stewart, the blind sheik's attorney, gladly carrying messages for him while he's in prison. (thankfully, she's dead now)
And why do they even get representation anyway?
“What is with these lawyers?! Like Lynn Stewart, the blind sheik’s attorney, gladly carrying messages for him while he’s in prison. (thankfully, she’s dead now)”.
They’re both dead. Maybe we can outlive the Domestic-Commies among us. (Hiding in plain sight).
Only if its a fashionable liberal cause .
This is what we get for decades of graduating lawyers with no real work for them to do. I remember when I was a
graduating undergraduate. I’d ask liberal arts\humanity major friends ‘What are you going to do with you “Eskimo Literature degree “? The answer almost always was, “ I guess I’ll go to law school.”. I heard the samething from my daughter’s friends who graduated with liberal arts\humanities\”Oppressed-of-the-World-Mostly-by-Western-Civilization-&-White-Males” degrees “I guess I’ll go to law school !”.
The Right, I fear, are just deer in the oncooming headlights to most of this stuff. This was starkly displayed last year with the fecklessness of too many when the left burned America. No fight in them. No political solutions.
And when you hear people like Swalwell talk one as to wonder how hard law school is. And he s just one of many.
Exactly !
Law school is very hard - for the unconnected.
The connected pay their fees and get their C’s
Some of the dumbest people I ever met when I was a detective were lawyers. And without a doubt some of the laziest.
And most of them can’t do math (it is one of the few degrees without any math requirement)
Judge Roy Bean didn’t die he just changes bodies.
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