U.S. Govt. Blocks Lawyer Access To Gitmo

(AP)  Attorneys for at least 40 Guantanamo Bay prisoners have been barred from visiting or writing their clients because of a judge's order dismissing legal challenges to the men's confinement, the U.S. Department of Justice said Friday.

A Justice Department lawyer informed the attorneys of the new restrictions in an e-mail that cited Thursday's dismissal of their cases by District Court Judge Ricardo Urbina in Washington.

"In light of this development, counsel access (both legal mail and in-person visits) is no longer permitted," Justice Department lawyer Andrew I. Warden said in the e-mail.

Urbina's ruling, which covered 16 legal petitions filed on behalf of 40-60 detainees, invalidated an order that establishes rules for contact with detainees, Warden said.

Challenges are still pending for dozens of other detainees with the Supreme Court set to consider whether Congress had the right to strip the prisoners of the right to contest their confinement with petitions of habeas corpus.

The Justice Department letter outlined a series of legal steps that would be required before the attorneys could resume contact with the detainees.

But attorney Wells Dixon said he would most likely not be able to complete those measures in time for a scheduled visit with a Libyan client in October.

That visit is crucial, Dixon said, because he is in the midst of trying to prevent the government from transferring the client back to Libya, where his lawyers fear he will be tortured.

"This is just the latest example of the government's efforts to frustrate counsel access to detainees," he said.

A Pentagon spokesman, Navy Cmdr. Jeffrey Gordon, said the U.S. was following the laws that govern the legal rights of Guantanamo detainees, and officials were pleased with Urbina's ruling.

"We have afforded detainees at Guantanamo with greater access to attorneys than any other combatants in the history of warfare," Gordon said.

The U.S. holds about 340 men at the detention center in Cuba on suspicion of terrorism or links to al Qaeda or the Taliban. Most of the prisoners have filed petitions of habeas corpus, a legal challenge to their confinement.

Last year, the U.S. Congress passed the Military Commissions Act, which stripped all detainees of the right to file habeas petitions - a fundamental legal right under the U.S. Constitution. On Thursday a Republican filibuster blocked efforts to restore habeus corpus rights to detainees. The Leahy-Specter amendment won a majority of Senators with 56 votes but was four short of the 60 necessary.

The Supreme Court has said it will consider the law in its next term.

By Associated Press Writer Ben Fox

[voteronpaul3]

**** TAKE AMERICA BACK ****
**** STOP THE WAR & Corporate Corruption****

Ron Paul has it all.

He has NEVER voted:
* to raise taxes
* for an unbalanced budget
* to raise congressional pay
* for a federal restriction on gun ownership
* to increase the power of the executive branch

He HAS voted:
* against the Iraq war
* against the inappropriately named USA PATRIOT act
* against regulating the internet
* against the Military Commissions Act

He will eliminate the IRS, Wasteful Government Spending & Stop The Iraq War Immediately!

Most importantly, he voted NO on anything in Congress that is not allowed by the Constitution.

He is the only candidate not a member of the CFR!

Shouldn''t ALL members of Congress uphold the Constitution? Aren''t they SWORN to uphold it? You can bet Paul won''t call the Constitution "just a G**D***ed piece of paper" like George Bush is reported to have.

If you want a candidate you can TRUST due to a proven track record, visit ronpaul2008.com and get busy spreading the word. The Mainstream Media is a lagging indicator!!

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[undermyboot]

It was noted recently that, before WWII turned against them, Nazi Germany looked more or less like any other European country. People worked, vacationed, went out to dinner, saw plays, listened to music, fell in love, etc. On the surface a fascist state appears a lot like a free country. Most citizens live their lives normally. People adapt to the slow decay of freedom. They start being quiet about their beliefs and principles. When a few of their neighbors disappear overnight into the secret Gulag they rationalize it ("they must be bad people") and don''t ask questions. When the police and government demand more and more compliance to monitoring people comply and learn not to draw attention of the authorities. Little by little most people pull their heads in their shell and try to go on with life, but with growing fear they may one day say or do something "unacceptable" and disappear themselves.

Fascism does not just "appear". It creeps in like a thief. We go on with our lives accepting a little less freedom and a little more government control until one day we wake up in Germany in 1941.

[sgtrds]

The majority of prisoners in Gitmo are not there because they deserve to be. When the US invaded Afghanistan they posted a $25,000 reward payable to anyone who would turn in someone that was part of al-Qaeda or the Taliban. The US paid out millions of dollars in rewards as people turned in anyone they''d ever held a grudge against. that''s why there are still 1000''s of prisoners still being held in Afghanistan, along with the hundreds being held at Gitmo. The bulk of them were turned in and imprisoned on the say so of people who were looking to grab a reward and get rid of someone they didn''t like at the same time. The whole taking of prisoners in Afghanistan is a horribly tragic farce. The reason the government won''t try them is that they HAVE NO CASE!!! That they are holding hunderds and perhaps thousands of innocent men and don''t want the disgrace of having to admit it!!

[undermyboot]

Anyone the President says is guilty is guilty. These accused do not need the right to defend themselves or trials. Accused by the President or his followers = guilty. If the President puts someone in jail then he should not have to show evidence or "probable cause". The accused should be taken away and dropped into an invisible black hole like Gitmo and more prisons like it that we should build here in the US. They just disappear! We should extend this concept to everyone accused by the government. It will simplify our court system and eliminate the backlog of trials. In addition, when the prosecutors "know" someone is guilty, then we can put them in jail right away! No appeals should be allowed. After all, the government is right and anyone who says otherwise is an enemy. These enemies should be thrown in jail too. In these ways we should allow our country emulate the efficient governmental systems of China, Belarus, Venezuela, USSR, Burma, Saudia Arabia, Iran, Egypt, and the rest where these quaint ideas of presumed "innocence", "truth", and "justice" are dispensed with. Let''s start with arresting the media and politicians who oppose the government. Fox News and the Washington Times are all we need. After all, they tell us that they are "fair and balanced". We need no trouble-making news outlets that question the truthfulness of our leaders! Shut them down! Those who oppose the President and the Party are all traitors and pacifists who should be jailed or shot!

[speakinup]

"Just what is the problem? Is the USA administration afraid its involvement will come out in open court?"
Posted by jh6379

Yeah - just what we need! Let''s start paying for all POWs to go to court. Does this sound like a liberal idea or what ?

Look - I don''t care that anyone can name Padilla or one other person in Gitmo. Are they there now ? NO! But what about all of the people that are there now AND SHOULD BE ? Oh, I''m sorry, every one of them was a law abiding citizen that just happen to be caught up in the prison take over in Afghanistan. Whre most of their ilk fought to the death. Yeah, they are all so innocent. Dream on liberals. But grow a brain too, will you, evidently you survived the partial birth abortion.

[sgtrds]

Name some people that have been locked up ! You can''''t, because they DON''''T EXIST. The only cases you can name are people that deserve to be locked up.

Posted by speakinup at 01:07 PM : Sep 23, 2007

I can name two. Khaled el-Masri, a German national who was kidnapped by the CIA and tortured in Afghanistan for 5 months and Maher Arar, a Canadian national who was kidnapped by the CIA and tortured for nearly a year in a black prison in Syria. Neither man was guilty of anything other then being Muslim in a time of hysteria and insanity in the US. neither was ever charged with any crime, had access to a lawyer, ever went to trial or was ever convicted of anything. The word grabbed and held under Bush''s interpretation of law as told to him by Alberto Gonzales. If they can do that to law abiding private citizens then they can do it to anyone. Unfortunately they haven''t done it to morons like you .....yet.

[speakinup]

"Bush has assumed the "right" to lock up ANYONE at ANYTIME, including YOU! That is the antithesis of democracy, and the return of the dark ages. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. - MyIDonCBS

I find it entirely too laughable that you could possibly use those two sentences together. IT is the epotomy of the far left logic. Name some people that have been locked up ! You can''t, because they DON''T EXIST. The only cases you can name are people that deserve to be locked up.

I think you need to read yuo''re own quote:

"The only thinkg we have to fear is fear itself." - FDR.

[speakinup]

"How little faith you have in your own country that you think a bunch of terrorists running around with AK''s and living in caves can defeat us so easily - Rafterman.

It is 9/23. Please try to remember about 9/11 at least a month each year.

Fact is, you don''t know anything about any of the prisoners in gitmo, do you ? You only know the retoric that''s been flying back and forth, and the guesses that the news media has made. If I''m wrong, tell me names and circumstances of people still there that were picked up off the streets.

As for Padilla - our own ''favorite son'' - he''s a convicted murder (when a ''youthful offender''), turned Islam while in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Afghanistan as an adult; and, was fingered by Abu Zubaydah, a top Al Qaeda Lt as someone that was going to explode a dirty bomb. You are right, he should have been tried, and executed. I suspect his lawyer advised him it would be bast for him to go to Gitmo.

[Krazcarl]

raftermam...Thank-You a seed of intelligence in a sea of post to further there political belief or lack there of. Got on this to post yo pass some time AND discuss politics. Grew up in the sixties it was never this murky it was cut and dry. Appriciate disscusion not advocation. The funny thing is that most of these folks had no idea what was going on and they don''t now vert dangerous.

[myidoncbs]

How many years have these poor people been locked away in Guantanamo, beaten and tortured? What could any of them possibly know about al Qaeda''s current plans? There is absolutely NO JUSTIFICATION for doing this. The only reason they are still there is because that evil, brain-dead, monster, G.W. Bush, has to pretend that he''s "keeping us safe" by fighting his boogeymen.

The United States used to be a country of LAWS. Now it is a horribly repressive fascist state. It is ruled by conmen and madmen. They rule by FEAR, not by reason.

Bush has assumed the "right" to lock up ANYONE at ANYTIME, including YOU! That is the antithesis of democracy, and the return of the dark ages.

"Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration." - Frank Herbert

"The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." - FDR