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January 29, 2008
Gitmo Lawyers back Obama
Rick Moran
More than 80 attorneys representing the detainees still being held at Guantanamo have issued a statement supporting the candidacy of Barack Obama for president:
''We are at a critical point in the presidential campaign, and as lawyers who have been deeply involved in the Guantánamo litigation to preserve the important right to habeas corpus, we are writing to urge you to support Senator Obama,'' the lawyers said in an open letter dated Monday.
Lawyers signing it included partners from major U.S. law firms and small-town practitioners as well as Michael Ratner, whose New York Center for Constitutional Rights has for years coordinated legal efforts to provide representation to each of the men held without charge at the offshore prison compound in southeast Cuba.
In 2006, Congress stripped the Guantánamo captives of the traditional right to file writs of habeas corpus in U.S. district court to challenge their detention -- and instead offered detainees more limited appeals in federal courts. The U.S. Supreme Court is now reviewing the constitutionality of that law. First, note the language in the article; "...the traditional right to file writs of habeas corpus..." I regret to inform Mr. Rosenberg, author of the piece appearing in the Miami Herald, that there is nothing whatsoever "traditional" about offering habeas corpus rights to terrorists captured on the battlefield or turned over to American custody by allies. It is, in fact, unprecedented - quite the opposite of "traditional."
But the real story is that the lawyers for detainees know which is the most likely candidate to spring their clients which would free them up to write their books and make the rounds on the talk show circuit. The question is where would these detainees go? Those that are left are unwanted in their own countries - for obvious reasons. So one suspects President Obama would simply incarcerate them in federal prisons here in the US or, in some cases, simply let them go.
There have already been several instances of freed Guantanamo detainees carrying out terrorist attacks against our friends and American troops overseas. Just one more thing we have to look forward to if Obama gets elected.
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