Astonishing Legal Argument by the Bush Administration
Okay, astonishing legal arguments by this bunch
aren't so rare. But this seems to have swept
right by Orwell and gone into Lewis Carroll
territory (ala the Red Queen and her Court).
Why can't Majid Khan have a lawyer, according to
the Department of Justice? Because he might tell
the lawyer how he was treated by the U.S.
government.
The theory of the government's case here is
contained in the remarkable tenth paragraph of
the Declaration of Marilyn Dorn, CIA Information
Review Officer. Dorn writes :
"Information relating to the CIA terrorist
detention program has been placed in a TOP
Secret/SCI program to enhance protection from
unauthorized disclosure. Because Majid Khan was
detained by the CIA in this program, he may have
come into possession of information, including
locations of detention, conditions of detention,
and alternative interrogation techniques, that is
classified at the TOP SECRET/SCI level."
Khan "came into possession" of top secret
classified information, eh? In fact, it was the
CIA's torture of Khan -- sorry, its "application
of alternative interrogation techniques against
him" -- that was how Khan "came into possession"
of our most closely guarded secrets.
As DOJ sees it, Khan can't have a lawyer because
of the risk that he'll tell the lawyer about that
classified info that he now "possesses." (Here's the DOJ Brief.)
Posted 12:37
|
