Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2002 01:02:40 -0700 (PDT)
From: stan_hemry@yahoo.com (Stan Hemry)
Subject: [azpeace] Fwd: Totalitarianism
To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: azpeace@yahoogroups.com


--- bill.blazier@phoenix.gov <bill.blazier@phoenix.gov> wrote:
> Published on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 in the Los Angeles Times 

> Bar Assn. Assails U.S. on Detainees

> Lawyer group demands to know why immigrants held after 9/11 have no 

> counsel.

> by Josh Meyer

>  

> WASHINGTON -- The American Bar Assn., the nation's largest lawyers'

group, 
> on Tuesday condemned the government's secret detention of hundreds of


> immigrants after Sept. 11, demanding to know who has been held and

why 
> many detainees have not received legal representation. 

> In Norfolk, Va., meanwhile, a federal judge also sharply criticized

the 
> Bush administration, saying it has mistreated a U.S. citizen, Yaser

Esam 
> Hamdi, by detaining him for months without charges or access to a

lawyer. 
> The administration, the Pentagon and the Justice Department have

staunchly 
> defended their actions, saying the secret detentions were needed

because 
> the nation is at war with an unseen enemy: terrorists who aim to

strike 
> again and are hiding within the U.S. borders. 

> The Justice Department, for instance, has appealed last week's ruling

that 
> it release the names of more than 1,100 people detained since the

attacks 
> on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, arguing that doing so

would 
> put the nation at risk of additional terrorist attacks. 

> But the ABA, which has 408,000 members, and U.S. District Judge

Robert 
> Doumar in Norfolk, expressed significant objections Tuesday to the 

> administration's detainee policies, suggesting that the government

was 
> trampling the rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens alike in waging

its 
> self-described war on terrorism. 

> The association, which consists of prosecutors, defense attorneys,

judges 
> and legal experts, wields enormous influence in Washington and in

legal 
> circles throughout the country. It issued its resolution at its

annual 
> conference in Washington after a short debate and voice vote. 

> "It is essential that we not tamper with the most fundamental

freedoms," 
> said Esther F. Larden, a Georgetown University law professor who

heads the 
> ABA's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law. "At the most

difficult 
> times, when our freedoms are tested, we speak out to preserve the

rule of 
> law, to preserve our core values and to preserve our national

heritage." 
> U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson attended the meeting at a

packed 
> downtown hotel but did not address the group. Several lawyers spoke

in 
> defense of the government, but the legal body appeared to support the


> resolution overwhelmingly. 

> The ABA formally opposed the "incommunicado detention of foreign

nationals 
> in undisclosed locations" and urged that the constitutional and egal


> rights of immigrants be protected. 

> It also issued a series of recommendations for the Justice Department

and 
> its Immigration and Naturalization Service. 

> The ABA said authorities should immediately disclose the names,

detention 
> facilities and charges against detainees, and ensure their immediate 

> access to lawyers. Also, it said the government should promptly

charge 
> detainees or release them, and provide them with prompt hearings

before 
> immigration judges "with meaningful administrative review and

oversight." 
> It also urged the government to hold public hearings in detainee

cases, 
> except in rare instances in which the nation's security is believed

to be 
> at risk if information about terrorist plots is disclosed. The group

also 
> urged the INS to create a set of standards regarding the detention of

such 
> immigrants. 

> Immigrants were swept up by the hundreds in the dragnet that followed

the 
> Sept. 11 attacks, when the FBI and other law enforcement agents 

> interviewed thousands of people and chased leads all over the United 

> States. 

> Many of those detained remained in federal detention facilities long

after 
> authorities had determined that they played no role in Sept. 11 or

any 
> other terrorist conspiracy. Such detentions, and the secrecy in which

the 
> detainees were held, prompted an outcry from a broad array of civil

and 
> human rights groups, as well as legal and constitutional scholars,

and led 
> to a lawsuit against the government. 

> Last week, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington ruled

that the 
> government must turn over the names of the detainees, saying there

was no 
> justification for such blanket secrecy. 

> Nearly all of the detainees have been released from custody. Most

already 
> have been deported for immigration violations, and none has been

charged 
> with involvement in terrorist acts or conspiracies. 

> In a related measure, the ABA delayed deliberation of a proposed 

> recommendation on the government's classification of Americans as

enemy 
> combatants. 

> So far, only two U.S. citizens are believed to be held by the

military as 
> combatants: Hamdi and Jose Padilla, who is accused of conspiring with


> members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network to detonate a low-level


> radioactive, or "dirty," bomb in the U.S. Both men are being held

without 
> charges or access to attorneys. 

> In Hamdi's case, the federal judge in Norfolk said Tuesday that he

was 
> "concerned" that the government was trying to "punish" Hamdi, perhaps

n 
> an effort to pressure him into talking. 

> Hamdi has been held in solitary confinement since his capture in 

> Afghanistan, where the government alleges he was an armed soldier in

the 
> Taliban army. 

> Doumar has already given the government a deadline to turn over 

> information to justify its continued detention of Hamdi, who was born

in 
> Louisiana but moved at a young age to Saudi Arabia. 

> The government has refused to do so, saying Doumar does not have the

right 
> to review anything but one declaration from a U.S. official as to why


> Hamdi has been classified as an enemy combatant. 

> Doumar repeatedly sided with Hamdi on Tuesday. During a two-hour

hearing, 
> he said, for instance, that the government's declaration said Hamdi

was 
> only "associated" with the Taliban, not fighting with them. 

> Separately Tuesday, Dennis W. Archer, a former mayor of Detroit,

became 
> the first African American president-elect of the ABA, which until

1943 
> banned membership by blacks. Archer, 60, a former Michigan Supreme

Court 
> justice, is a past president of the competing National Bar Assn.,

which 
> was founded in 1925 by African American lawyers who were refused 

> membership in the ABA. 

> The group also chose another black lawyer, Robert Grey Jr. of

Richmond, 
> Va., to succeed Archer as president in 2004. 

> Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times

> ###

> Share This Article With Your Friends

> 

>  

> 

>  

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>  




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Published on Wednesday, August 14, 2002 in the Los Angeles Times 
Bar Assn. Assails U.S. on Detainees
Lawyer group demands to know why immigrants held after 9/11 have no 
counsel.
by Josh Meyer

WASHINGTON -- The American Bar Assn., the nation's largest lawyers' group, 
on Tuesday condemned the government's secret detention of hundreds of 
immigrants after Sept. 11, demanding to know who has been held and why 
many detainees have not received legal representation. 
In Norfolk, Va., meanwhile, a federal judge also sharply criticized the 
Bush administration, saying it has mistreated a U.S. citizen, Yaser Esam 
Hamdi, by detaining him for months without charges or access to a lawyer. 
The administration, the Pentagon and the Justice Department have staunchly 
defended their actions, saying the secret detentions were needed because 
the nation is at war with an unseen enemy: terrorists who aim to strike 
again and are hiding within the U.S. borders. 
The Justice Department, for instance, has appealed last week's ruling that 
it release the names of more than 1,100 people detained since the attacks 
on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, arguing that doing so would 
put the nation at risk of additional terrorist attacks. 
But the ABA, which has 408,000 members, and U.S. District Judge Robert 
Doumar in Norfolk, expressed significant objections Tuesday to the 
administration's detainee policies, suggesting that the government was 
trampling the rights of immigrants and U.S. citizens alike in waging its 
self-described war on terrorism. 
The association, which consists of prosecutors, defense attorneys, judges 
and legal experts, wields enormous influence in Washington and in legal 
circles throughout the country. It issued its resolution at its annual 
conference in Washington after a short debate and voice vote. 
"It is essential that we not tamper with the most fundamental freedoms," 
said Esther F. Larden, a Georgetown University law professor who heads the 
ABA's Coordinating Committee on Immigration Law. "At the most difficult 
times, when our freedoms are tested, we speak out to preserve the rule of 
law, to preserve our core values and to preserve our national heritage." 
U.S. Solicitor General Theodore B. Olson attended the meeting at a packed 
downtown hotel but did not address the group. Several lawyers spoke in 
defense of the government, but the legal body appeared to support the 
resolution overwhelmingly. 
The ABA formally opposed the "incommunicado detention of foreign nationals 
in undisclosed locations" and urged that the constitutional and legal 
rights of immigrants be protected. 
It also issued a series of recommendations for the Justice Department and 
its Immigration and Naturalization Service. 
The ABA said authorities should immediately disclose the names, detention 
facilities and charges against detainees, and ensure their immediate 
access to lawyers. Also, it said the government should promptly charge 
detainees or release them, and provide them with prompt hearings before 
immigration judges "with meaningful administrative review and oversight." 
It also urged the government to hold public hearings in detainee cases, 
except in rare instances in which the nation's security is believed to be 
at risk if information about terrorist plots is disclosed. The group also 
urged the INS to create a set of standards regarding the detention of such 
immigrants. 
Immigrants were swept up by the hundreds in the dragnet that followed the 
Sept. 11 attacks, when the FBI and other law enforcement agents 
interviewed thousands of people and chased leads all over the United 
States. 
Many of those detained remained in federal detention facilities long after 
authorities had determined that they played no role in Sept. 11 or any 
other terrorist conspiracy. Such detentions, and the secrecy in which the 
detainees were held, prompted an outcry from a broad array of civil and 
human rights groups, as well as legal and constitutional scholars, and led 
to a lawsuit against the government. 
Last week, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler in Washington ruled that the 
government must turn over the names of the detainees, saying there was no 
justification for such blanket secrecy. 
Nearly all of the detainees have been released from custody. Most already 
have been deported for immigration violations, and none has been charged 
with involvement in terrorist acts or conspiracies. 
In a related measure, the ABA delayed deliberation of a proposed 
recommendation on the government's classification of Americans as enemy 
combatants. 
So far, only two U.S. citizens are believed to be held by the military as 
combatants: Hamdi and Jose Padilla, who is accused of conspiring with 
members of Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network to detonate a low-level 
radioactive, or "dirty," bomb in the U.S. Both men are being held without 
charges or access to attorneys. 
In Hamdi's case, the federal judge in Norfolk said Tuesday that he was 
"concerned" that the government was trying to "punish" Hamdi, perhaps in 
an effort to pressure him into talking. 
Hamdi has been held in solitary confinement since his capture in 
Afghanistan, where the government alleges he was an armed soldier in the 
Taliban army. 
Doumar has already given the government a deadline to turn over 
information to justify its continued detention of Hamdi, who was born in 
Louisiana but moved at a youn age to Saudi Arabia. 
The government has refused to do so, saying Doumar does not have the right 
to review anything but one declaration from a U.S. official as to why 
Hamdi has been classified as an enemy combatant. 
Doumar repeatedly sided with Hamdi on Tuesday. During a two-hour hearing, 
he said, for instance, that the government's declaration said Hamdi was 
only "associated" with the Taliban, not fighting with them. 
Separately Tuesday, Dennis W. Archer, a former mayor of Detroit, became 
the first African Americanpresident-elect of the ABA, which until 1943 
banned membership by blacks. Archer, 60, a former Michigan Supreme Court 
justice, is a past president of the competing National Bar Assn., which 
was founded in 1925 by African American lawyers who were refused 
membership in the ABA. 
The group also chose another black lawyer, Robert Grey Jr. of Richmond, 
Va., to succeed Archer as president in 2004. 
Copyright 2002 Los Angeles Times
###
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