Word: counsels
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...variety of witnesses called before the committee tried to explain how the abusive interrogation system evolved, while minimizing their own responsibility. Richard Shiffren, a former deputy general counsel at the Pentagon dealing with intelligence, explained that the U.S. military lacked expertise in interrogation after 9/11, but was desperate to extract intelligence from prisoners captured on the battlefields of Afghanistan. Instead of consulting the FBI - an agency with long experience in conducting effective interrogations using lawful methods - the Pentagon opted to use the enemy tactics taught in the SERE program. Many of those have since been found to be illegal...
...final witness of the day was former Pentagon general counsel William Haynes. He admitted that he had never read the strongly worded objections to the harsh techniques filed by lawyers from all four branches of the military. Instead, Haynes said he approved many of those harsh methods based on a memo written by Beaver - a memo described by a number of experts as riddled with errors and flawed legal reasoning...
...historic significance, it remains to be seen what practical consequences the Supreme Court ruling will have. According to Shayana Kadidal, senior attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights, a nonprofit whose lawyers serve as sole or joint counsel for more than 200 prisoners at Guantánamo, "The impact of this ruling on military commissions trying Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and others may very well be negligible, because federal courts have always been reluctant to stop trials, including military trials, in mid-process...
...Near the end of the day-long arraignment, Army Major Jon Jackson, the lawyer for Mustafa al-Hawsawi, charged that his client had been "intimidated" by Mohammed and other defendants into rejecting legal counsel and electing to represent himself. Lawyers for all the defendants confirmed to TIME that their clients had been brought to court about 15 minutes before the arraignment began, and had held an extended conversation in Arabic. At first, Mohammed and Hawsawi were the only two defendants present and, according to Maj. Jackson, it was then that Mohammed confronted his client. "Do you think...
...Another lawyer for Binalshibh told the court that her client is taking "psychotropic" medication that may be impairing his judgement and selection of counsel. Binalshibh countered that he was being forced to take the medication, but remains perfectly capable of representing himself. But several other lawyers also objected to what they described as Judge Kohlman's rush toward selection of defense counsel. Kohlman repeatedly cut them off, warning one to "never interrupt me" and ordering others to "please sit down." Kohlman then rejected defense motions for any delay...