These jackasses are “patriots”???
Two weeks after a conservative group disparaged Justice Department lawyers who previously represented terror suspects, Attorney General Eric Holder on Friday weighed in for the first time, calling such lawyers “patriots.”
“Those who reaffirm our nation’s most essential and enduring values do not deserve to have their own values questioned,” Holder told a group of lawyers who offer “pro bono,” or voluntary, legal services. “Let me be clear about this: Lawyers who provide counsel for the unpopular are, and should be treated as what they are: patriots.”
The crowd, gathered to honor Holder with an award from the Washington-based Pro Bono Institute, erupted in applause.
For months the Justice Department had been refusing to identify seven politically-appointed attorneys who previously represented or advocated for terror suspects.
On March 2, a conservative group led by Liz Cheney, daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney, released a video condemning the Justice Department for its “secrecy.”
“So who did President Obama’s Attorney General, Eric Holder, hire?” the group, Keep America Safe, said in the video. “Whose values do they share?”
The video dubbed the seven unknown lawyers “The Al Qaeda 7.”
……”Advancing the cause of justice sometimes means working for the sake of the fairness and integrity of our system of justice,” Holder said. “This is why lawyers who accept our professional responsibility to protect the rule of law, the right to counsel, and access to our courts — even when this requires defending unpopular positions or clients — deserve the praise and gratitude of all Americans. They also deserve respect.”
……Keep America Safe Spokesman Aaron Harison said it was “absurd” for lawyers “to go out in public and argue that voluntarily representing detainees is somehow good for America.”
……The Obama administration is not the first to hire lawyers who represented or advocated for terror suspects. Three such lawyers were hired by the Bush administration and now work in the Solicitor General’s office, the Office of Legal Counsel and the Civil Rights Division.
http://liveshots.blogs.foxnews.com/2010/03/19/holder-detainees-lawyers-are-patriots/
The Bush administration hired those lawyers BEFORE the tribunals were set up: http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/02/09/brennan-critics-serve-goals-of-al-qaeda/
Considering the radical ideology and the treachery of the “Al Qadea 7”, and a host of other ACLU “pro bono” lawyers, “patriots” is not a term that applies:
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/03/15/the-al-qaeda-seven-lawyers-and-subversion-at-gitmo/
These assholes have a lot in common with Lynne Stewart:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aWPO.6oKgMsw&refer=us
Related post:
http://sfcmac.wordpress.com/2010/03/16/holder-compares-bin-laden-to-charles-manson-says-he-deserves-the-same-legal-rights/