Top British attorney: Close Guantánamo

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Mon, Feb. 12, 2007
Top British attorney: Close Guantánamo
BY CAROL ROSENBERG
[e-mail]
camp

Addressing the American Bar Association's annual winter meeting in Miami this morning, Britain's attorney general condemned the new U.S. format for war crimes at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as ``too little and too late.''
(snip)

He called Guantánamo Bay ''a symbol of injustice'' and disputed the notion that, since it's designed to carry out U.S. justice, outsiders should remain silent.

''The struggle against global extremism and terrorism'' must be won not only through force but also through a battle of ``values and ideas.''

''The presence of Guantánamo makes it so much more difficult to do this. For all of us,'' he said.

And while it might require changes in existing laws for national security reasons, ``this does not give an unlimited license to throw away our values for the sake of expediency.''
(snip/...)

http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/nation/16682553.htm

[Greeby]

1. This the same attorney general who said going to war would be legal

The British military was all ready to refuse to go until he gave that opinion

[Judi Lynn]

2. You're right. He appears to be attempting damage control.

From Wikipedia:

This has led to allegations that Lord Goldsmith succumbed to political pressure to find legal justification for the use of force against Iraq. Shortly after the leak Lord Goldsmith released a statement in response to such allegations, saying that the two documents were consistent, pointing to the difference in the nature of the two documents and the firm assurances he had received between 7th and 17 March that Iraq was indeed in breach of its obligations under Security Council resolutions.

The controversy was furthered by the resignation of Elizabeth Wilmshurst, deputy legal adviser to the Foreign Office, on 20 March 2003. A full version of her letter of resignation became public in March 2005. In this she stated that the reason for her resignation was that she did not agree with the official opinion that the use of force in Iraq was legal. She also accused Lord Goldsmith of changing his view on the matter.
(snip/)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Goldsmith,_Baron_Goldsmith

[struggle4progress]

3. Top British attorney: U.S. has failed to fix Guantanamo flaw

By Carol Rosenberg
McClatchy Newspapers
(MCT)

... "The changes made are too little and too late. There remain fundamental problems with this system of detention," Lord Peter Goldsmith told the American Bar Association's annual winter meeting, being held this year in Miami ...

Goldsmith said foreign friends of the Bush administration have a duty to criticize Guantanamo because it is a dangerous "symbol of injustice" that complicates the West's war on terror.

"We have to show against an al-Qaida narrative that all that the West does is designed to oppress Muslims, that our values are actually those of justice, tough and fearless but fair," Goldsmith said. "The presence of Guantanamo makes it so much more difficult to do this, for all of us." ...

He also took a swipe at Stimson's remarks ...

http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/nation/16683571.htm