This week, the Times has been running front-page articles about leaked documents from Guantanamo Bay. The stories have detailed various aspects of the ongoing confinement of those swept up in the American "war on terror."
As is known by anyone paying any attention to news since the September 11 attacks, the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay has become something of an albatross for American policy makers. Many of those housed there seem to have little (if any) connection to Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups. Others may or may not have links to terrorists. So little is known for sure, though, that officials in both the Bush and Obama administrations have decided that, while there is not evidence to prosecute them, these detainees are too dangerous to release--or even to transfer to jails on the US mainland.
Lawyers for the detainees have struggled, often in vain, to present evidence on their clients' behalf. Because of national security concerns, much evidence has remained off limits. One would think, then, that the lawyers would be thrilled to comb through this treasure-trove of newly available information. Presumably, they are. The trouble is, they can't use it.
In the latest example of governmental logic at its best, the Justice Department has declared that the Guantanamo documents, although available to anyone with an internet connection or a dollar for the paper, technically remain classified and thus cannot be used by defense attorneys. National security, you know. Which would presumably be more endangered by trained lawyers applying their skills to analyzing these documents than it is by, y'know, just the general public looking at the documents and shaking their heads over the corruption of American ideals they represent.
Your tax dollars at work, folks! Or, in the case of the detainees' lawyers, not at work. All in the name of security.
Solipsistography
"Detainees' Lawyers Can't Click on Leaked Documents"
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