verging_on_random

Incipent totalitarianism

January 14, 2007 on 6:52 am | In Uncategorized |

The right to a fair trial is a basic feature of democratic societies and proper legal representation is fundamental to a fair trial. Imagine the outrage - justified outrage - if big corporate clients threatened law firms in Australia that if they represented people charged with terrorism offences, they’d lose the corporate accounts.

Can you imagine a government coming out and encouraging corporate CEOs to do this? Not only that, but naming names. Like Attorney-General Ruddock going on Alan Jones’ show and saying something like “Alan did you know the Smith & Jones law firm is representing the people who planned to blow up Lucas Heights? I really think business leaders should tell Smith & Jones that they either represent terrorists or they represent corporate clients but they can’t expect to do both.” I know the standards of ministerial accountability in Australia are laughable but even so, I believe an Attorney-General who said such a thing in Australia would be sacked.

However, the American deputy secretary directly responsible for detainees has said exactly that. Even though the story appeared in the Washington Post I didn’t believe it until I got primary verification. The official concerned, whose name is Stimson, was interviewed on radio. Here’s an extract from the story:

“Actually you know I think the news story that you’re really going to start seeing in the next couple of weeks is this: As a result of a FOIA [Freedom of Information Act] request through a major news organization, somebody asked, ‘Who are the lawyers around this country representing detainees down there,’ and you know what, it’s shocking,” he said.

Mr. Stimson proceeded to reel off the names of these firms, adding, “I think, quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hit their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms, and I think that is going to have major play in the next few weeks. And we want to watch that play out.”

There’s commentary on the story here.

It’s a hugely significant story because it reveals how the Bush administration thinks. When they say “You’re either with us or against us” they mean it literally. Does anybody doubt after this incident that if they had the power to deny terrorist suspects any legal rights at all, they would do it?

Ruddock assures us that the Americans have assured him that David Hicks will receive a fair trial. Yeah sure.