Bush Administration: Assaulting justice (Seattle PI editorial board)

[struggle4progress]

Sunday, January 21, 2007

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD

The government's pursuit of every possible advantage in the prosecution of detainees risks catastrophic consequences for individuals, our concepts of justice and our international standing.

Already shocked by Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo detentions and renditions, international public opinion could turn irrevocably unforgiving over further missteps. Traditional U.S. concepts of justice, fair play and restraint of power are fragile, given to breaking rather than bending to rough treatment.

Yet the Bush administration stays on course, only occasionally making a concession such as Attorney General Alberto Gonzales' announcement that the administration will use required court procedures for monitoring public telecommunications. Most of the time, the administration is on the offensive. Recently, Gonzales told the conservative American Enterprise Institute the administration wants judges who understand "a judge will never be in the best position to know what is in the national security interests of our country" ...

The meanest recent kick at the concept of fair play came from Charles Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense. He said law firms might lose the business of major corporations for providing legal representation to Guantanamo detainees. The pro bono representation by firms such as Seattle's Perkins Coie is commendable, not worthy of attack ...

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/300436_outraged.html

[NV1962]

1. Awesome closer: they compare the Bush admin with Imperial Japan of WWII

While Stimson apologized, it's ominous he wasn't fired. His implied suggestion of a federal-private partnership against good legal representation sounds like something familiar to an earlier generation of Americans, who made it a priority during the Japanese occupation to dismantle the corporations that entwined themselves with an ultranationalist government. But, for the administration, changing the ground rules is the agenda.

Spot on.

[rodeodance]

2. Stimson reflects the thinking of the ADMinistration.