Monday, January 22, 2007
Preserving constitutional democracy
Last week I had lunch with a law student from Liberia. Already a lawyer in his home country, he is studying law here in the United States to deepen and broaden his experience in the field. He sees a brighter future for his country, and he plans to participate in building that future. Indeed, by the work he has done before coming to the States, he is already building that future.
Walking back to the law school after lunch, we talked about how different things are in the U.S. compared to Liberia. Specifically, we discussed the casual freedom with which Americans discuss and even complain about government policy, such as the President's continuation of the war in Iraq, without fear of recrimination, like being disappeared after a sharp knock on the door in the middle of the night.
Living in the forest, you can forget to look at the trees.
Earlier today while doing my infinitesimally small part to preserve the history of constitutional democracy in Liberia, I learned more about Charles Stimson's remarks of January 11th, wherein he chastised lawyers at leading US firms for representing detainees at Gauntanomo - suggesting that the CEOs whose companies employ the services of these firms pressure those firms not to pursue terrorists as clients - and hinted that such work may not be performed pro bono by everyone. I had heard about Stimson's comments, but it was news that had just sort of washed past me. But, as my Liberian friend noted, we can speak about this, and fortunately some people have been doing so.
A quick bit of Googling led me to some op-ed pieces I found interesting:
Walking back to the law school after lunch, we talked about how different things are in the U.S. compared to Liberia. Specifically, we discussed the casual freedom with which Americans discuss and even complain about government policy, such as the President's continuation of the war in Iraq, without fear of recrimination, like being disappeared after a sharp knock on the door in the middle of the night.
Living in the forest, you can forget to look at the trees.
Earlier today while doing my infinitesimally small part to preserve the history of constitutional democracy in Liberia, I learned more about Charles Stimson's remarks of January 11th, wherein he chastised lawyers at leading US firms for representing detainees at Gauntanomo - suggesting that the CEOs whose companies employ the services of these firms pressure those firms not to pursue terrorists as clients - and hinted that such work may not be performed pro bono by everyone. I had heard about Stimson's comments, but it was news that had just sort of washed past me. But, as my Liberian friend noted, we can speak about this, and fortunately some people have been doing so.
A quick bit of Googling led me to some op-ed pieces I found interesting:
- Pentagon Official Attacks Top Law Firms over Pro Bono Work Defending Detainees, at The Urbana Champaign Independent Media Center
- Unveiled Threats, January 12th editorial from The Washington Post
- Why I defend "terrorists," by Anant Raut (at Salon.com - may require clicking on an ad)
- Guantanomo Pro Bono? Atticus Finch Meets Charles Stimson, by Nancy Rapoport
