Guantanamo Attorneys Face Possible Prison Time for Letter to Obama Detailing Client’s Allegations of

[seemslikeadream]

http://i2.democracynow.org/2009/4/7/guantanamo_attorneys_face_possible_prison_time

Attorneys Clive Stafford Smith and Ahmad Ghappour could face six months in a US prison because of a letter they sent to President Obama explaining their client’s allegations of torture by US agents. Smith and Ghappour represent Binyam Mohamed, the British resident recently released after seven years in US custody, where he claims he was repeatedly tortured, first in a secret CIA prison and later at Guantanamo.

[bbgrunt]

1. sounds like catch 22...

"it may be confusing to your listeners when you say that we supposedly revealed classified evidence and then say it was all censored—it was all censored. There wasn’t one iota of classified evidence revealed."

[stillcool]

2. wow...you can't send the President a letter..

without it being redacted before he even gets it?

CLIVE STAFFORD SMITH: Well, I wrote a letter to President Obama and attached to it a memorandum that was going to originally be the evidence that showed that Binyam was tortured. But that evidence we had to submit through the classification review process. So, ultimately, the two-page memo of evidence that Binyam had been tortured was all redacted, as you mentioned, so it was all blacked out. I mean, even to the President it was blacked out. And the only thing left in it was, you know, “In re: torture of Binyam Mohamed.”

What we were trying to do was get President Obama the information he needs to make a judgment as to whether the US should continue to cover up this evidence of torture. And it’s paradoxical that the President of the United States is not being permitted to make that judgment in a meaningful way.

[hughee99]

3. If the president doesn't have "clearance" to read the non-redacted version

who does? Who the hell has a higher security clearance than the President?

[stillcool]

4. The Pentagon?

[drm604]

5. That shouldn't be the case, being that he is commander in chief.

However, I wouldn't be surprised to find that there is some kind of de facto (and illegal) "higher clearance".