Cully Stimson Resigns Over Guantanamo Comments

By Jeralyn, Section Terror Detainees
Posted on Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 04:22:48 PM EST
Tags: Guantanamo, Detainees (all tags)

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Charles "Cully" Stimson has resigned. Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, is the guy who made the offensive comments about the law firms representing Guantanamo detainees.

Stimson said he was leaving because of the controversy over a radio interview in which he said he found it shocking that lawyers at many of the nation's top law firms represent detainees held at the U.S. military prison in Cuba.

"He believed it hampered his ability to be effective in this position," Whitman said of the backlash to Stimson's comments.

Resignation was his only course of action after his disturbing and contemptible comments. And, Stimson's troubles might not be over.

The Bar Association of San Francisco last week asked the California State Bar to investigate whether Stimson violated legal ethics by suggesting a boycott of law firms that represent Guantanamo Bay detainees.

Andrew Cohen at WaPo's Bench Conference provides his thoughts:

How and why Stimson, an experienced lawyer, would have or could have strayed so far from this bedrock principle of law is beyond me. And how and why he could have achieved the status he did within the administration is a question for the ages. All that matters now is that he is gone, off the public dole and no longer representing us all in the name of fighting the legal war on terror. And if and when he decides to try to enter private practice again, I hope that any law firm to which he applies treats him with the same disdain and contempt with which he tainted the good and decent men all over the country who have decided, for their own sake and for the sake of the rule of law, to represent the lowest of the low.

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Cully Stimson Resigns Over Guantanamo Comments | 5 comments (5 topical)

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Good riddance (none / 0) (#1)
by scarshapedstar on Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 04:49:55 PM EST

One moronic brownshirt f*ck down, rest of the Bush administration to go!

Easy question (none / 0) (#2)
by Edger on Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 05:32:11 PM EST

how and why he could have achieved the status he did within the administration is a question for the ages

You can achieve, as the bush gang has shown repeatedly, any height you set out to achieve.

Just lower the bar far enough.

He answered his own question (none / 0) (#3)
by Joe Bob on Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 07:50:51 PM EST

Andrew Cohen asks:

How and why Stimson, an experienced lawyer, would have or could have strayed so far from this bedrock principle of law is beyond me. And how and why he could have achieved the status he did within the administration is a question for the ages.

Stimson probably achieved his status in the administration because he strayed from the bedrock principles of law.

Scar (none / 0) (#4)
by Che's Lounge on Fri Feb 02, 2007 at 08:38:58 PM EST

You said it. Though most of mainstream america has no clue about this issue, he still got outed for his remarks. I wonder how much the internet had to do with this? The revolution may have just begun. Is that why they want to shut us down so badly?

somehow, i suspect (none / 0) (#5)
by cpinva on Sat Feb 03, 2007 at 06:15:49 AM EST

mr. stimson won't be unemployed for long. he'll hook up with the Cato Institute, or another right-wing "think" tank. being disbarred will merely add to his cache' with the right, a martyr for the cause.

kind of makes you wonder why ann coulter hasn't been disbarred yet, she's certainly brought discredit to the profession. of course, she's brought discredit to the species in general.