US admin official urges boycott of lawfirms representing detainees

January 13, 2007 11:26 AM

Two days ago, the senior Pentagon official in charge of military detainees suspected of terrorism was interviewed (wma file, relevant remarks begin at 3:00) on Federal News Radio, an internet-only all-news radio station aimed at government employees. What has drawn the attention and ire of both the mainstream (liberalish) media, e.g., (1) (2) (3), and intertubers, e.g., (1) (2), is that deputy assistant secretary Stimson (pic) (a lawyer no less) is advocating that businesses boycott prominent law firms representing prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.
posted by found missing (49 comments total)

it worked for the Dixie Chicks, didn't it
posted by matteo at 11:36 AM on January 13, 2007

What an ass.
posted by caddis at 11:37 AM on January 13, 2007

total ass--he's actually telling them they won't get Govt. contracts, in effect, too. There's no one in this administration who believes in our justice system, unless they need it personally for something.
posted by amberglow at 11:44 AM on January 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

Anyone got the complete list, besides whoever wrote the FOIA request for the info?
posted by hank at 11:44 AM on January 13, 2007

... If they can blackmail you over Gitmo, they can blackmail you over ANY client.
posted by amberglow at 11:46 AM on January 13, 2007

Any word on whether our new Democratic Congress is actually going to investigate some of this?
posted by namespan at 11:56 AM on January 13, 2007

Well looks like they got the right guy for the job, I find it hard to think anyone reasonable would hold such a position, one that could be construed to be, Head Torturer.
posted by edgeways at 11:58 AM on January 13, 2007

...We all need to keep an eye on Cully Stimson. ...
posted by amberglow at 11:59 AM on January 13, 2007

This disgusts me. The man is an attorney, for christ's sake. Advocating that some persons should not get good representation because he doesn't like them. Where's he barred? Somebody should file a bar complaint against him.
posted by Ironmouth at 12:06 PM on January 13, 2007

NYT today--related?: Military Expands Domestic Surveillance
posted by amberglow at 12:06 PM on January 13, 2007

from there: ...While the letters typically have been used to trace the financial transactions of military personnel, they also have been used to investigate civilian contractors and people with no military ties who may pose a threat to the military, officials said. ...
posted by amberglow at 12:07 PM on January 13, 2007

Creepy as fuck.
posted by delmoi at 12:10 PM on January 13, 2007

It might be only laughable that Mr. Stimson, during the interview, called Guantanamo "certainly, probably, the most transparent and open location in the world."
posted by mulligan at 12:11 PM on January 13, 2007

RIP Democracy

Unless we do something.

January 27th. March on Washington.

INVESTIGATE
IMPEACH
IMPRISON
posted by Corky at 12:23 PM on January 13, 2007 [2 favorites]

he's actually telling them they won't get Govt. contracts, in effect, too.

it's my understanding that some of these law firms are the best in the country ... so, they're threatening to get contracts with the 2nd best

yeah, THAT'LL show them, won't it?
posted by pyramid termite at 12:33 PM on January 13, 2007

A clever administration would have praised the work the lawyers are doing and pointing to it as an example of how our system works and is a shining beacon of liberty, etc..
(while stabbing them in the back behind the scenes of course)
But these guys don't even feel the need to even make an attempt at being fair, even when it's just a PR move.
posted by 2sheets at 12:48 PM on January 13, 2007

Unless we do something.

January 27th. March on Washington.

Oh, please.

You want to see how protest is done? Look at the Ukraine in 2004. A couple of hours of chanting clever protests impresses nobody and changes nothing.

When you get a million people surrounding the White House in bitter cold for over two weeks, that's when it might change something. One day? Don't even bother -- esp. if somebody was stupid enough to set a rain date.
posted by eriko at 12:52 PM on January 13, 2007 [2 favorites]

amberglow : Military Expands Domestic Surveillance

I'm sure that's just so that when we have to re-institute the draft, they already know who's gay and who isn't. Nothing sinister about that. Nope, nothing at all.

As to this Stimson guy, he's an asshole. I'm with Ironmouth. Get him disbarred. (Not that it would have any effect on his current job, but it would have a nice symmetry.)
posted by quin at 12:59 PM on January 13, 2007

Surely this... oh, never mind.
posted by twsf at 1:02 PM on January 13, 2007

Unbelievable. Further and further down the road towards a full-fledged police state we march.

I'm convined that when we attack Iran and the price of oil spikes, perhaps leading to shortages and maybe unleashing additional terrorist attacks on the homeland, we're all gonna find out the true purpose of the Patriot Acts, domestic surveillance, etc.
posted by kgasmart at 1:09 PM on January 13, 2007

Looks like the DoD has quietly disowned Stimson's comments. As if that means anything.
posted by dilettante at 1:09 PM on January 13, 2007

You want to see how protest is done? Look at the Ukraine in 2004. A couple of hours of chanting clever protests impresses nobody and changes nothing.

Look man, Keiv in November isn't as cold as D.C. in January.
posted by delmoi at 1:18 PM on January 13, 2007

"When you get a million people surrounding the White House in bitter cold for over two weeks, that's when it might change something."

Not this administration. Even Nixon went out to talk to some protesters that one night during the Vietnam era, and in spite of his stubborness, seemed to have a glimmer of empathy if only for a brief moment. Then he bombed Cambodia of course, but I digress.
You will never see such a moment with this current pack of dogs. They would run over your mother with a tank and back up for good measure, and never give it a second thought.
posted by 2sheets at 1:33 PM on January 13, 2007

Absolutely sickening. When are the grownups in DC going to do something about this? Are there any?
posted by fourcheesemac at 2:02 PM on January 13, 2007

Sad sad time...I guess Stimson would prefer we do it Moktada al Sadr/Malaki style: March the orange suited heathens up the gallows while AIE/PNAC chant Bush!! Bush!! Bush!! and stretch their necks good and proper, one by one, Hail to Chief playing sweetly in the background. Hell we can even make our own grainy cell phone videos and post them up.

That will show they world how good and right we are in our cause....
posted by Skygazer at 2:11 PM on January 13, 2007

When are the grownups in DC going to do something about this? Are there any?
Nope--they're all busy being serious and sensible and minimizing all of this unAmerican shit--they wouldn't want to be mistaken for filthy hippies or liberals, or god forbid, those crude, crude bloggers.
posted by amberglow at 2:16 PM on January 13, 2007

While there are editorials and opeds about this, there aren't many news stories about it at all--even in the same papers.
posted by amberglow at 2:17 PM on January 13, 2007

Probably there aren't news stories about this is because one dude saying something stupid isn't particularly newsworthy. So they can only publicize it in op-eds until more people react publicly to it - then they can report on the reaction as news; without being labeled the "librul media".
posted by mrnutty at 2:27 PM on January 13, 2007

There are few things more valuable than an opponent who will overreact. One of those things is the knowledge of what makes the opponent over react and what form that overreaction will take. One's own strategy will seem in contrast as divinely inspired. I very much like Mr. Stimson. I wonder what he'd say if he thought he had more support?
posted by Smedleyman at 2:57 PM on January 13, 2007

Particularly offensive is Stimson's offhand suggestion that some of the firms are being paid by terrorists. Not only are they not being paid at all, the implication of conspiracy is close to defamatory (although he doesn't single out any particular firm, lucky for him).

Also galling is that he clearly hasn't a clue about the firms he's attacking. For example, Cleary Gottlieb is located at One Liberty Plaza in downtown Manhattan, right next to the WTC. I know plenty of Cleary lawyers who saw 9/11 up close and personal and were pretty messed up for some time afterward. They had to leave their offices for weeks or months during the cleanup. The notion that they have now become some sort of terror accomplices is sheer lunacy.

At least Gonzales had the sense to avoid endorsing this view.
posted by brain_drain at 3:35 PM on January 13, 2007

Nothing like a little coordination between the Pentagon and the right wing noise machine.--...The suggestion by Charles D. Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, that corporations should consider boycotting law firms who are doing pro bono work representing detainees at Gitmo, came after he received a FOIA request from conservative radio host and former Nixon groupie Monica Crowley seeking a list of all the lawyers and law firms representing detainees. ...
posted by amberglow at 3:50 PM on January 13, 2007

Look man, Keiv in November isn't as cold as D.C. in January.

Maybe normally. DC has been averaging at least 50 degrees this winter. We had a "cold spell" where daytime lows was in the upper 30's. That lasted maybe a day or so. Today it was around 60 degrees. So everyone, enjoy the march!
posted by Atreides at 4:07 PM on January 13, 2007

you go, Murtha! Rep. Jack Murtha, D-Pa., an influential member of the Appropriations Committee and top ally of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, warned Friday that he might seek to close the controversial U.S. prison for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba as a condition of approving more money for the war.
"If he wants to veto the bill, he won't have any money" for the war, Murtha said at a forum of anti-war Democrats. ...
posted by amberglow at 4:29 PM on January 13, 2007

"What has drawn the attention and ire of both the mainstream (liberalish) media...."

You're joking, right?
posted by rougy at 4:39 PM on January 13, 2007

Article II, Section 4:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.
posted by Flunkie at 5:58 PM on January 13, 2007

Reading the extremist right-wing sites like RedState, FreeRepublic, and LGF, I think the Guantanamo stuff is the only subject where I really can't just shrug or giggle at the viewpoints expressed.

The Guantanamo rhetoric is just masochistic- with the exception of maybe one out of every hundred people posting there- and I'm not exaggerating- these people all actually think that every person there is a terrorist, deserves to be there, and half the time thinks it's funny or amusing. It's like those crime dramas where they say the murdered closed their victims' eyes because they were repulsed by the appearance of them "looking" at them- they've shut off every function in their souls that could even consider that someone, anyone in Guantanamo is innocent- or even that a hard-boiled murder deserves to be charged with something- because to do so would force them to admit compliance with this atrocity.

And I think it's getting worse because now there's a demand to validate power- there's an inherent need for there to be someone out there to hurt and cause pain to. The Democratic takeover of Congress has brought out the "best" in a collective of fanatics who openly brag about how Bush can do whatever he wants- and they think that's great and proclaim themselves the arbiters of patriotism in the exact same sentence without even a modicum of irony. And even with all the dominance in the media I had no idea there were so many out there. Angry and annoyed with is one thing- but I think the last two months has been the first time in my life I've been honestly scared of right-wing Republicans.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 6:05 PM on January 13, 2007 [1 favorite]

I think this is just a pure PR move, casting "shame" on whoever defends "terrah" even if lawyers, thus showing the admin is still much about "anti-terrah". I guess I am agreeing with matteo, it worked for dixie, maybe for him too.

Yet, not a single important law firm will lose a contract because of that statement. Lawyers can sleep pleasant dreams, assuming they sleep every now and then.
posted by elpapacito at 6:26 PM on January 13, 2007

John Adams and Charles "Cully" Stimson
posted by homunculus at 6:49 PM on January 13, 2007

hysterical--Scooter Libby's lawyers are from one of the firms (and i bet Cheney's and Bush's lawyers are too)
posted by amberglow at 8:21 PM on January 13, 2007

the man is sending more fucking troops! what in sam's hell is going on with our country? i want to throw up on someone's pants, it makes me so goddamned sick
posted by localhuman at 9:19 PM on January 13, 2007

I finally heard bits of Bush's address, on TDS. From the soundbites they played, it sounded like his next sentence -- having apologized for fucking it up royally and accepting responsibility for it all -- should be "and so I hereby resign."

Why the hell wasn't Bush pressured into resigning?

What the hell are y'all waiting for?
posted by five fresh fish at 11:40 PM on January 13, 2007

“Digging your own grave” is the only phrase that’s coming to mind right now.
I don’t even know what to say anymore…
posted by hadjiboy at 12:56 AM on January 14, 2007

Huh. It's a dot com site, the radio station. Is this person a government employee acting in an official capacity? I'm inclined he can say what ever retarded thing he'd like to if he's not.
posted by avriette at 5:41 AM on January 14, 2007

... As far as I know, however, Stimson himself has not retracted his comments. And he is hardly some random official. He is the Defense Department appointee charged with overseeing "detainee affairs". He runs it.
We've become greatly desensitized in recent years to shocking abuses of civil liberties and administration contempt for the rule of law. Even in that context though this stands out as an outrageous attack on the rule of law in this country. When high level Defense Department appointees are publicly calling for blacklisting lawyers defending clients in the civilian justice system you know we've gotten to a very bad place.
This story should not end here. Stimson should be fired immediately. And if the White House won't, the Congress should investigate his activities.
posted by amberglow at 2:47 PM on January 15, 2007

and Libby himself worked for one of the firms now representing detainees--too funny
posted by amberglow at 4:49 PM on January 15, 2007

Gonzales Blames Legal Challenges For Five Year Delay In Bringing Gitmo Detainees To Trial
posted by homunculus at 8:52 PM on January 16, 2007

he apologized, but Try harder, Stimson. You’re still a schmuck.
posted by amberglow at 5:13 PM on January 17, 2007

An open letter to Cully Stimson... from a lawyer representing five men at Guantánamo.
posted by jaronson at 7:43 PM on January 17, 2007

He resigned today, finally--A senior Pentagon official resigned Friday over controversial remarks in which he criticized lawyers who represent terrorism suspects, the Defense Department said.

Department spokesman Bryan Whitman said Charles 'Cully' Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, told him on Friday that he had made his own decision to resign and was not asked to leave by Defense Secretary Robert Gates. ...
posted by amberglow at 6:21 PM on February 2, 2007