I'm Not Going to Make Fun of this New York Times Editorial
I'm just going to link to it. There's some rhetoric I wouldn't use in here, but--as I said before and as Steve explained here--this is a provocative step the government has taken, and it shouldn't do things like this and not expect at least a bit of backlash.
Published by The Lawfare Institute
in Cooperation With
I'm just going to link to it. There's some rhetoric I wouldn't use in here, but--as I said before and as Steve explained here--this is a provocative step the government has taken, and it shouldn't do things like this and not expect at least a bit of backlash. The editorial, entitled "A Spiteful New Policy at Guantanamo Bay," opens as follows:
The Obama administration’s latest overuse of executive authority at Guantánamo Bay is a decision not to let lawyers visit clients in detention under terms that have been in place since 2004. Because these meetings pose little risk and would send a message about America’s adherence to the rule of law, the administration looks as if it is imperiously punishing detainees for their temerity in bringing legal challenges to their detention and losing.In one case, the administration is saying that the Yemeni national Yasin Qasem Muhammad Ismail no longer has the right to meet with his counsel, David Remes, because his plea to be released was “terminated.” The Justice Department will only let them meet, it said in an e-mail to Mr. Remes, if he signs a new memorandum giving the government what Mr. Remes calls “absolute authority over access to counsel.”
Benjamin Wittes is editor in chief of Lawfare and a Senior Fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of several books.
