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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: mph who wrote (354366)	3/19/2010 12:34:33 PM
From: MrLucky	Respond to of 794337

While I oppose giving a "benie" to any convict, prisoner, inmate or "ward' as some are called today, I think handing out several laptops to known AQ types might be good if they include the option to use international email. It might provide additional leads to overseas AQ connections. If, after a few months, nothing develops, take the laptop away from them "because they broke the rules". LOL

To: mph who wrote (354366)	3/19/2010 12:45:03 PM
From: ManyMoose	Respond to of 794337

vile combination of the two ...in the hands of the clueless.

To: mph who wrote (354366)	3/19/2010 6:28:43 PM
From: FJB	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 794337

Holder: Detainees’ Lawyers Are “Patriots” Posted By Mike Levine On March 19, 2010 @ 1:24 PM In Terrorism liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com Two weeks after a conservative group disparaged Justice Department lawyers who previously represented terror suspects, Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday weighed in for the first time, calling such lawyers "patriots." “Those who reaffirm our nation’s most essential and enduring values do not deserve to have their own values questioned,” Holder told a group of lawyers who offer "pro bono," or voluntary, legal services. "Let me be clear about this: Lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be treated as what they are: patriots." The crowd, gathered to honor Holder with an award from the Washington-based Pro Bono Institute, erupted in applause. For months the Justice Department had been refusing to identify seven politically-appointed attorneys who previously represented or advocated for terror suspects. On March 2, a conservative group led by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, released a video condemning the Justice Department for its "secrecy." "So who did President Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, hire?" the group, Keep America Safe, said in the video. "Whose values do they share?" The video dubbed the seven unknown lawyers "The Al Qaeda 7." On Friday, Holder took issue with such rhetoric. "Advancing the cause of justice sometimes means working for the sake of the fairness and integrity of our system of justice,” Holder said. "This is why lawyers who accept our professional responsibility to protect the rule of law, the right to counsel, and access to our courts -- even when this requires defending unpopular positions or clients -- deserve the praise and gratitude of all Americans. They also deserve respect." A week earlier, some of the Obama administration’s most outspoken critics came to the defense of Holder and the Justice Department lawyers criticized in the Keep America Safe video. "The past several days have seen a shameful series of attacks on attorneys in the Department of Justice," said a statement signed by several conservative lawyers and former officials who worked under Republican administrations. Former Attorney General Michael Mukasey, who has condemned Holder's handling of recent terrorism cases, called the video "shoddy and dangerous" in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on March 10. Responding to the statement from conservative lawyers and officials, Keep America Safe Spokesman Aaron Harison said it was "absurd" for lawyers "to go out in public and argue that voluntarily representing detainees is somehow good for America." Since November 2009, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) had been trying to uncover politically-appointed lawyers within the Justice Department who advocated for detainees at Guantanamo Bay or elsewhere. In a subsequent letter to Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich declined to identify seven of nine such lawyers, insisting that no political appointee at the Justice Department "would permit or has permitted any prior affiliation to interfere with the vital task of protecting national security, and any suggestion to the contrary is absolutely false." He also said that any suggestions of a "conflict of interest" are "an apparent misapprehension" of legal standards, adding that all political appointees have taken pledges to meet ethical standards. Fox News was the first to identify the seven unknown lawyers. An extensive review of court documents and media reports by Fox News suggests that many of the seven previously unidentified lawyers played only minor or short-lived roles in advocating for detainees. Asked at the time whether any of the seven lawyers now work on detainee-related issues, a Justice Department spokesman declined to comment. At a black-tie dinner in Washington on Wednesday, Vice President Joe Biden became the highest-ranking administration official to address the controversy, even if in jest. He said of Liz Cheney, "Now she's questioning if Tom Brady is a real Patriot," referencing the star quarterback for the New England Patriots. The Obama administration is not the first to hire lawyers who represented or advocated for terror suspects. Three such lawyers were hired by the Bush administration and now work in the Solicitor General’s office, the Office of Legal Counsel and the Civil Rights Division. Keep America Safe is operated by Cheney, Debra Burlingame, whose brother was killed in the 9/11 attacks, and Bill Kristol, a Fox News contributor.