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White House sinks to a new low

First it was the appointment of Alberto Gonzales as US Attorney- General - the man who, in effect, advised George Bush that the US could simply avoid the Geneva Convention. Then, the Americans have the outrage of Guantanamo on their hands as hundreds of men, and even teenagers by all acccounts, languish there without being charged with anything and with no prospect, even if charged, for a trial that comes anywhere close to judicial in any meaningful way.

Now comes this contemptible and thoroughly dishonest attack on lawyers representing Gitmo prisoners, as the NY Times editorialises:

"No one who has followed President Bush’s policies on detainees should be surprised when a member of his team scorns American notions of justice. But even by that low standard, the administration’s new attack on lawyers who dare to give those prisoners the meager representation permitted them is contemptible.

Speaking this week on Federal News Radio, a Web site and AM radio station offering helpful hints for bureaucrats and helpful news for the administration, Cully Stimson, the deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, tried to rally American corporations to stop doing business with law firms that represent inmates of the Guantánamo internment camp."

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