Another embarrassing conflict for the attorney general

Readers, we finally have some clarification on the prosecutions of detainees housed at Guantanamo Bay. As it turns out, as many as nine lawyers who work at the Department of Justice specialize in terrorism and related issues and have represented or advocated on behalf of Guantanamo prisoners.

Now these very same lawyers, who were appointed to the Justice Department by President Obama, are in charge of deciding whether the Guantanamo prisoners should be freed.

Not only is this painfully ironic, but it represents yet another major conflict of interest for Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department.

Many of you may be wondering why you haven’t heard anything about this until now. Well, besides Fox News and the New York Post, many of our local papers haven’t reported on it. Apparently The New York Times and Newsday don’t think it’s important enough.

The situation came to light when Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, probed Holder about who was advising him on decisions relating to Guantanamo detainees. Grassley’s concerns were based on the notion that if an attorney, particularly a political appointee at Justice, had at one time represented a Guantanamo detainee or worked for groups who supported them, it would create a conflict of interest.

The attorney general was hesitant to address and formally answer Grassley’s concerns. At first he defended his attorneys, pronouncing that they understood their ethical obligations, but then he said he needed to dig further into attorney-client privilege.

This “digging” took three months, but what it uncovered was worth the wait. Of the nine appointees who had represented or advocated for terrorist detainees before coming to Justice, five had directly represented detainees, while four others either contributed to briefings on the cases or advocated on detainees’ behalf. The names and positions of seven of these appointees have yet to be revealed, though Sen. Grassley has requested them.