Thursday, March 4, 2010

US attorneys may still working for accused terrorists-Obama refuses to confirm or deny

  • American employees at the White House refuse to reveal whether US legal staff is still defending terrorist detainees.
  • Upset that the White House was forced to reveal names of some employees who have defended terrorists, Obama's Attorney General said: "..."hiring former terrorist lawyers is just like hiring lawyers who used to defend white collar criminals.""...
Names have been sought for several months by a member of congress. Resumes of all our employees should of course be readily available. At this point some of the names currently sought are revealed to have been lawyers for terrorists.
terrorists before joining the Holder Justice Department.
  • Jonathan Cedarbaum- now an official with the Office of Legal Counsel
  • Eric Columbus- Senior counsel in the Office of the Deputy Attorney General
  • Karl Thompson- Office of Legal Counsel
  • Joseph Guerra- Principal Deputy Associate Attorney General at the Justice Department
  • Tali Farhadian- now an official in the Office of the Attorney General
  • Beth Brinkmann- now Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Justice Department’s Civil Division
  • Tony West- the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division...

…The most extensive detainee-related work by a current Justice Department official, though, may have been done by Tony West, the Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

  • For several years, while working in Morrison & Foerster’s San Francisco office, West represented “American Taliban” Johh Walker Lindh, a move that was hotly debated after West was nominated to the Justice Department in January 2009. West wasn’t confirmed until April 2009.

In a recent letter to (Senator) Grassley, Assistant Attorney General Ron Weich said nine Justice Department lawyers in total previously represented terror suspects, contributed to court briefs in detainee-related cases or otherwise helped advocate for detainees.

  • Weich acknowledged in the letter that Principal Deputy Solicitor General Neal Katyal previously represented a Guantanamo Bay detainee and that National Security Division Attorney Jennifer Daskal previously worked for Human Rights Watch, which advocates on behalf of detainees.
Weich declined to identify the other lawyers"...
  • (It is certainly possible the Bush administration employed attorneys with dangerous backgrounds. Bush is of course no longer in office.) ed.
"Keep America Safe released this statement following the disclosure of the terrorist attorneys:

“Today, after much public outcry, the Department of Justice finally and reluctantly disclosed the names of the Al Qaeda Seven.

  • We regret that they still refuse to tell the American people whether any of these lawyers are currently working on detainee issues inside the Department.

The American people have a right to know whether lawyers who voluntarily flocked to Guantanamo to take up the cause of the terrorists are currently working on detainee issues in President Obama’s Justice Department.

  • Attorney General Holder’s assertion that hiring former terrorist lawyers is just like hiring lawyers who used to defend white collar criminals demonstrates once again that, despite the President’s rhetoric, the Obama Administration does not understand the dangers of

treating terrorism like a law enforcement matter.”"

all above via Gateway Pundit "Holder's "Al Qaeda 7" Attorneys Revealed"

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