Eric Holder’s Justice Department has stonewalled a number of requests for disclosure of the identities of seven unnamed DOJ lawyers who in the past represented or advocated for Guantanamo Bay detainees, an issue we’ve written about the issue here and here.
The latest ad from the Keep America Safe focuses on these “al-Qaeda Seven”:
The spot — and especially the “Al-Qaeda Seven” moniker — is not sitting well with some progressive groups. Ken Gude, associate director of the Center for American Progress (who is also an outspoken and, as it turns out, overly confident advocate of the closing of Guantanamo Bay) described the ad as “plainly unacceptable in the United States.”
“Condemnation is not sufficient. This is pure McCarthyism.”
Perhaps they meant Andy?
Meanwhile, a Justice Department spokesman stuck to the script, telling Politico in an statement only that all DOJ attorneys are “subject to ethics and disclosure rules as required under both Department guidelines and this administration’s own ethics rules, which are the strongest in history.”
Of course, the issue of whether the unnamed attorneys are acting ethically can’t even be properly posed until we know who they are.