Liz Cheney group accused of McCarthyism

politico.com ^ | March 2, 2010 | Josh Gerstein

[Free ThinkerNY]

My colleague Ben Smith has word this morning of a video from the Liz Cheney-backed group Keep America Safe questioning the loyalty of Justice Department attorneys who previously represented Guantanamo detainees.

The video provocatively calls a group of such lawyers whom Attorney General Eric Holder has failed to name despite repeated Republican requests: "The Al Qaeda 7."

The challenge is prompting outrage from some working on Guantanamo issues.

"This is plainly unacceptable in the United States," Ken Gude of the Center for American Progress, wrote in an e-mail this morning. "Condemnation is not sufficient. This is pure McCarthyism."

It's worth noting that even the Bush/Cheney Administration didn't have much tolerance for public attacks on the loyalty of lawyers representing Guantanamo detainees. In 2007, Defense Department detainee affairs chief Charles Stimson made similar comments, calling for a boycott of firms handling such cases, often pro bono. The Pentagon publicly distanced itself from Stimson's statements, which were condemned by a broad array of voices in the legal community. Stimson eventually apologized and resigned a short time later.

It seems to me the issue of DOJ stonewalling the request for the lawyers' names is a separate one from whether their previous work represents a conflict or an act of disloyalty. It is hard to square the refusal to produce the names with the Obama Administration's public commitment to transparency.

[TigersEye]

Those communist pigs do squeal when you start to strip the lipstick off of them.

[lewislynn]

Liz Cheney group accused of McCarthyism

Where do I sign to join her group?

[Venturer]

McCarthy sure had Hollywood pegged.

[chris_bdba]

McCarthy was right. So what is wrong with speaking the truth about lawyers who would sell their souls to represent the enemies of the USA?