You're Either With Us or Against Us

In a bold move, the Pentagon has opened up a new front in the War on Terror. The New York Times reports that Charles Stimson, the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, has rasied the alarm against the defense attorneys and their firms representing the detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

The senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism said in an interview this week that he was dismayed that lawyers at many of the nation’s top firms were representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and that the firms’ corporate clients should consider ending their business ties.

The statement received broad condemnation from a variety of academics and legal organizations.

Karen J. Mathis, a Denver lawyer who is president of the American Bar Association, said: “Lawyers represent people in criminal cases to fulfill a core American value: the treatment of all people equally before the law. To impugn those who are doing this critical work — and doing it on a volunteer basis — is deeply offensive to members of the legal profession, and we hope to all Americans.”

The article states that Senator Pat Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has written a letter to President Bush asking the President to repudiate Stimson's comments.

As of this writing, Sen. Leahy is still waiting.