Advocacy Groups Say Torture Memo Authors Should Be Disbarred

WASHINGTON — A coalition of advocacy groups is asking the District of Columbia and New York bar associations to disbar three government attorneys for approving and enabling the CIA's harsh interrogation program.

The groups are asking the legal panels to revoke the district law licenses of acting CIA general counsel John Rizzo and former CIA Counterterrorism Center chief counsel Jonathan Fredman, and the New York license of former CIA General Counsel Scott W. Muller.

Rizzo is still at the CIA but is due to be replaced this week. Fredman is a CIA employee currently assigned to the Office of Director of National Intelligence' policy, plans, and requirements directorate. Muller is now in private practice in New York.

The groups allege that the three attorneys approved and advocated the Bush-era CIA interrogation program that included waterboarding, a form of simulated drowning that President Barack Obama has called torture.

"These lawyers have no business practicing law, especially under salary in the federal government, given their involvement in furthering the torture of detainees," said Kevin Zeese, a board member of Velvet Revolution, a coalition of more than 50 organizations and hundreds of individuals who oppose the CIA's interrogation program.

The CIA is standing behind the attorneys.

"This, to put it mildly, is something with which we do not agree," said CIA spokesman George Little.

The national intelligence director's office declined to comment. Muller did not immediately respond to inquiries.

The disbarment request comes the same week the CIA is expected to release a 2004 internal report from its inspector general that criticized the interrogation program.

In May, Velvet Revolution requested the disbarment of 12 senior Bush administration officials. Among them were former Bush attorney generals John Ashcroft, Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey; former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff; and former Justice lawyers John Yoo, Jay Bybee and Stephen Bradbury, whose legal opinions provided legal justifications for harsh interrogations.

The earlier request is on hold at the Board on Professional Responsibility in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals pending a review by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, said Bruce Fein, a former Reagan administration associate deputy attorney general now working with Velvet Revolution.

Comments

[eztempo]

Please add John Yoo and David Addington to that list for disbarment.

[blueskybigstar]

This has to be done.

[HST]

Yoo and Bybee especially since they have been promoted in their careers in spite of trashing the constitution.

[MikeRdg]

http://digg.com/politics/Timothy_Flanigan_A_torture_memo_lawyer_no_one_is_mentioning

Timothy Flanigan is falling through the cracks as people call for the disbarment . Flanigan was an original’
e torture memos recently released by the Obama administration have focused interest on three of their authors: John Yoo, Jay Bybee, and Steven Bradbury. However, there's another torture memo lawyer whose name hasn't yet come into the discussion -- Timothy Flanigan, a deputy to then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales.
http://digg.com/politics/Timothy_Flanigan_A_torture_memo_lawyer_no_one_is_mentioning

[JessWonderin]

It's a start . . . but don't expect it to move forward . . . . seems Obama's Justice Department is not "interested in the past" . . . so tell me again, WHY did we go through Nuremberg???

[rich misty]

http://www.tortureteam.com/

Torture Team website. The author, bio below, did his own independant research into the Bush torture policy and his documentation became the roadmap for criminal prosecutions in the International Courts.

http://www.amazon.com/Torture-Team-Rumsfelds-Betrayal-American/dp/0230603904

^ The book is now available in paperback in the US

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/05092008/profile3.html

PBS Profile of the author ^

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103606406

NPR interview ^

Philippe Sands is an international lawyer and a Professor of Law and Director of the Centre on International Courts and Tribunals in the Faculty, and a key member of staff in the Centre for Law and the Environment at the University College of London. As a lawyer he has litigated extensively before the International Court of Justice, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes, and the European Court of Justice. He frequently advises governments, international organisations, NGOs and the private sector on aspects of international law. In 2003 he was appointed a Queen's Counsel.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/2009/04/13/090413ta_talk_mayer

Review and commentary ^ by author Jane Mayer

[blueskybigstar]

Thanks rich misty.

[rich misty]

I cannot imagine how Conservatives can dream that this whole Bush torture policy is going to go away and they will end up smelling like roses.

The stench of sulfur pours off the GOP. And from all indications they are too weak to confront the facts from within their own party.

I hate to think that Conservative politics have so corrupted our Justice system that Americans have to rely on foreign courts in order to obtain justice in America... But Justice will not be denied, and the longer Republicans hold out against investigating their own... The worse it will be for them.

The only reason Conservatives were able to come back after Nixon was that they did the right thing when the evidence was clear Nixon was engaged in abuse of power. There is no question in the minds of rational Americans that Bush severely abused his... And the crime continues when he and his adminstration are allowed to live as respected citizens without being called into account.

[cleveyucks]

Unfortunately, it's not the conservatives at this point that are aiding and abetting the criminals and obstructing justice. It's the Obama administration. I'm embarrassed and ashamed that I was taken in by this huckster but it is undeniable that he is embracing the most unlawful and repugnant aspects of the Bush administration with zeal.

My biggest fear is that progressives will not have the backbone to suck it up and admit that they were conned and stand up to this administration. I watched conservatives bend themselves into pretzels to avoid the realization that the Bush administration were criminals and the nation suffered greatly for their denial. Now I see the same dynamic in the people who I thought were more rational and had strong values. If it was wrong when Bush did it, it's wrong when Obama does it.

[charon]

Disbar them? What a pile of manure. Put them in jail for engaging in a conspiracy to violate the law, for aiding and abetting treason, and for being part of a torture racket. I'd say about 20 years without parole, at least.

[abouttime]

Right on!

Make a point of remembering these names. In the least they must be ostrasized. They promoted and were involved in the known conspiracy to torture suspects illegally detained. Many "suspects" were killed during their suffering torture and most were innocent of any crime at all: unlike the following US Government officials who conspired to commit and carry out crimes against humanity:

John Rizzo, acting CIA general counsel
Jonathan Fredman, former CIA Counterterrorism Center chief counsel,
Scott W. Muller, former CIA General Counsel Scott W. Muller.
John Ashcroft, former attorney general,
Alberto Gonzales, former attorney general
Michael Mukasey, former attorney general
Michael Chertoff, former Homeland Security chief
John Yoo, former Justice lawyer,
Jay Bybee, former Justice lawyer
Stephen Bradbury, former Justice lawyer


Kudos to Kevin Zeese, a board member of Velvet Revolution, a coalition of more than 50 organizations and hundreds of individuals who oppose the CIA's interrogation program.
Their disbarment and indictments are necessary for justice, law and order!

[MikeRdg]

FLANIGAN, Tim..... another Torture Lawyer not being mentioned.

[weatherwaxx]

Disbar, indict, and prosecute.

[naschkatze]

The order should probably be indict, prosecute, disbar.

[lornejl]

Disbar ? Have we become a nation of pu ssies ?

[weatherwaxx]

No one suggested this should be the only step taken. But it's a good start.

[lianmolive]

what does pu ssies mean?

offensive.

[lianmolive]

Good idea to disbar. Now let's see it happen.

[johnb3950]

Oh, these lawyers were the small fry. The real monsters were Alberto Gonzales, John Yoo, David Addington, Tim Flanigan, Cofer Black, Paul Wolfowitz, Doug Feith- all the cabal pushing for an unbridled presidency with the powers that dictators worldwide covet.

Oh, and of course not forgetting He Who Must Not Be Named - sorry to steal your tagline, Voldemort - and in fact we know Cheney's name anyway, though often not his location. Sort of a hovering éminence noire...(grise is not dark enough)

[naschkatze]

I am not a lawyer, but I don't see how this would stick if they weren't found to have committed something illegal in the courts.

[weatherwaxx]

Torture is illegal. Twisting the law to make a crime illegal is illegal and rather seriously unethical.

[naschkatze]

You missed my point. I know torture is illegal, but these clowns have to be indicted and prosecuted and proven to be guilty of advocating torture before they can be disbarred. Take the example of President Clinton or Scooter Libby. They were both found to be guilty of perjury and then disbarred. They were not disbarred when they were accused of perjury.

[lungfish]

This is good...a start.
Keep in mind that the American Bar Association made Alberto Gonzales Lawyer of the Year after his disgraceful testimony prior to his resignation. He hasn't been able to get a job since. It was an amazing bit of self-policing by the legal community that continues to work years later.
I would really like to see this people publicly rebuked and banned from practicing their profession.

[NotYouAgain]

Removing their credentials to practice law is a good step but frankly someone ought to remove something a little more meaningful from each of them.

[GunneraGirl]

like their freedom and good reputation via a court of law.

[NotYouAgain]

Yes, that would be an excellent start.

[lungfish]

The Red Cross has reported that it has been unable to locate many of the victims of the CIA "Rendition" program. Al Gore said that at least one hundred of those peopled died in CIA custody. The duty officer who authorized the kidnappings is lawyered up and the interrogation tapes are missing and the CIA claims to have destroyed them after they were ordered not to.
Not surprised that the CIA doesn't want these lawyers to be punished..
The bottom line is that because of people like Gonzales and Yoo and the rest, people have died under torture who may not have been guilty of anything. We already know several examples of people who were rendered that turned out to be wholly innocent. Apparently fingered by other detainees under torture...
What a mess.
But these lawyers in concert with Dubya and Cheney and co have the blood of a lot of people on their hands. Disbarring them is a start... and they should be held accountable for the subsequent deaths, maimings, disapearances, etc...

[realpolitic]

It would be great to disbar these lawyers, but the top guys always go untouched.

[hangdogit]

Why just disbarment? Waterboard them to get them to say why they did what they did. Based on what Cheney says, warterboarding is safe, legal and effective -- why not use it?

[weatherwaxx]

Because there is a difference between Cheney and sane, ethical people.