More Obstruction at Justice
By Scott Horton
.................... The Washington Post reports:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082004295.html?hpid=topnews Justice Department investigators are looking into allegations that laws protecting classified information were breached when three lawyers showed their clients the photographs, the sources said. The lawyers were apparently attempting to identify CIA officers and contractors involved in the agency’s interrogation of al-Qaeda suspects in facilities outside the United States, where the agency employed harsh techniques. If detainees at the U.S. military prison in Cuba are tried, either in federal court or by a military commission, defense lawyers are expected to attempt to call CIA personnel to testify.
The photos were taken by researchers hired by the John Adams Project, a joint effort of the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, to support military counsel at Guantanamo Bay, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the inquiry. It was unclear whether the Justice Department is also examining those organizations. Both groups have long said that they will zealously investigate the CIA’s interrogation program at “black sites” worldwide as part of the defense of their clients. But government investigators are now looking into whether the defense team went too far by allegedly showing the detainees the photos of CIA officers, in some cases surreptitiously taken outside their homes.
.......... the defense counsel here are engaged in activities that professional rules require in connection with the zealous defense of their clients. They are following the same standards that John Adams followed when he undertook the highly unpopular defense of British soldiers and officers involved in the Boston Massacre. So there’s no mystery about what the defense counsel are doing.
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Considering these facts, the “investigation” that the Justice Department has undertaken looks suspiciously like an act of
obstruction of justice. It plainly is calculated to stop defense counsel from presenting the sort of robust defense to which they are entitled. And it is calculated to draw a tight black curtain around the criminal activities that occurred at the CIA black sites.What are they afraid of? The answer is clear enough. Criminal prosecutions are now pending against individuals involved in the extraordinary renditions program in Italy; criminal investigations are underway in Spain, Poland and the United Kingdom. The disclosures about the Lithuanian black site will probably lead to a criminal probe in that nation as well. The Justice Department’s transparent objective here is to avoid the discovery of information that could further the prosecution of criminal conduct.more:
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/08/hbc-90005578http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/20/AR2009082004295.html?hpid=topnews