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Guantanamo Detainees Turn on Their Lawyers

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Wed Aug 10, 2005 at 09:58:20 AM EST
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The Boston Globe has a must-read article today on Guantanamo detainees who are so frustrated with the delays of their lawsuits they are firing their lawyers, saying they are useless. In addition to the delays, some say the military is back-stabbing the lawyers.

Some lawyers say the military is also undermining their ability to maintain cordial relations with clients by harassing them on the base and by imposing sharp restrictions on their communications. Phone calls are not allowed. Officers assigned to chaperone the lawyers take a rigid attitude about scheduled meetings, refusing to allow them to go longer than planned, the lawyers said. Letter delivery, they added, is sometimes delayed for months.

Moreover, lawyers said, interrogators have ''manipulated" clients by saying that detainees with lawyers will not be released and that the lawyers cannot be trusted.

Here's another accusation:

And in an April court filing, a lawyer, Tom Wilner, told a judge that two Kuwaiti clients told him that interrogators had warned them that he was Jewish.

''How could you trust Jews? Throughout history, Jews have betrayed Muslims. Don't you think that your lawyers, who are Jews, will betray you?" the complaint quoted one interrogator as saying. ''Don't ever believe that a Jew will help a Muslim unless he gets more out of it than he gives. . . . What will other Arabs and Muslims think of you Kuwaitis when they know the only help you can get is from Jews?"

The military denied the charges. But Harold Koh, the dean of Yale Law School, says he's not surprised at the reactions of the detainees.

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    • Guantanamo Detainees Turn on Their Lawyers | 4 comments (4 topical)
    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Turn on Their Lawyers (none / 0) (#1)
    by Jim Strain on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:09 PM EST
    Had there been no photos of the Abu Ghraib abuse, it would've got about the same amount of attention as this. It's the classic problem of uncovering official misconduct in prisons or jails, where everything takes place behind high walls and locked gates: Who do you believe; our brave troops/police/correctional officers, or a bunch of criminals/terrorists/baddies? Given everything that has happened, and the avowed attitude of the administration and the military, I feel the burden of proof has shifted to the people with the keys.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Turn on Their Lawyers (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:09 PM EST
    Guantanamo detainees who are so frustrated with the delays of their lawsuits they are firing their lawyers, LOL..welcome to the us legal system! If you want to use it.... you have to deal with it like the rest of us.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Turn on Their Lawyers (none / 0) (#3)
    by john horse on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:10 PM EST
    Here's a radical idea. "the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury...and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense." (Article VI of the Constitution) These prisoners have been detained for 2 or 3 years. Words are cheap. The Soviets, for example, had a wonderful constitution that guaranteed all sorts of rights. The real test of any system is whether you practice what you preach.

    Re: Guantanamo Detainees Turn on Their Lawyers (none / 0) (#4)
    by DawesFred60 on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:02:12 PM EST
    So the pow's are now civilians? but didn't bush say that the foreign fighters? that have no rights under our bill of rights? but maybe the terrorists have more rights? under so called international laws? and as far as the lawyers go, i say place the lawyers inside the cells with the wronged guys who did nothing and find out what a real back-stabbing is like, shot the terrorists or let the terrorists go or put the terrorists in a pow camp or call the terrorist u.s. civilians and put the rats inside a courtroom, by the way i was once called a terrorists by the state for my actions of being beaten by the local political police.

    Guantanamo Detainees Turn on Their Lawyers | 4 comments (4 topical)