What Took Them So Long?

Cully Stimson does have his defenders, at last.

From Cliff May at The Circle Jerk in the Corner™:

Many of those who criticize Guantanamo allege that detainees at the facility do not have legal representation. They are either misinformed or lying: Not only does the International Committee of the Red Cross have regular access to detainees, there also are scores of American attorneys representing detainees on a pro bono basis.

Why do they do that? Maybe it is because they are genuinely concerned about protecting due process for detainees. Or maybe it is because they are, as Stimson said “receiving moneys from who-knows-where.” (Or – and this is my conjecture – perhaps they are currying favor with governments and groups that are or can become rewarding clients.)

Notice, by the way, that May doesn't allude to the immense amount of pressure, including reams on negative publicity and several court cases, that finally got that legal representation for those incarcerated. That's a good example of mendacity, of a clumsy and rudimentary sort.

From his fellow jerker, Mark Steyn:

It seems an almost parodic illustration of the uneven playing field on which we have chosen to play: our enemies are extended every benefit of the doubt while the mildest observation on the part of government officials will prompt howls of outrage and sustained campaigns to hound them from office. . . .

Since then, the level of legal representation they’ve attracted is certainly striking. It may be merely the cachet that attaches to springing goatherds from the clutches of the Bush police state but it’s not inconceivable that it’s yet another by-product of the vast amount of walking-around money various jihad-friendly front organizations have sluiced about the western world. I agree that idle speculation isn’t terribly useful, but, given that The New York Times has managed to shut down the wire-transfer surveillance program, it’s pretty much all that’s left.

For those who aren't familiar with Steyn, as I wasn't until recently, he's a well-known right-wing extremist. I'm not familiar with May's writings, but he seems to share Steyn's complete lack of moral fiber.

I sometimes hate being right, but when the whole Cully Stimson flap started, I alluded to the fact that he'd done his job and the smear was out there. (From a post at EA Forums: "Granted, he doesn't repudiate the implied threats, but then I'm still pretty much convinced that was his mission. It wouldn't make any difference if he repudiated them or not -- the message is out there." Cross-posted to this blog here.). The fact that he was sacrificed, or chose self-immolation, take your pick, simply reminds us of one of the defining characteristics of the Bush administration. (And remember, this is a president who is "loyal" to his friends and supporters.) And of course, we could have expected the Corner to pick up the mantra. I'm just suprised it took them so long.

Andrew Sullivan claims that "this kind of smear really is beneath him," "him" in this case being May. I guess that only supports my contention that Sullivan is essentially clueless. The correct analysis, I would suspect, is that this kind of smear is beneath anyone who has the best interests of democracy at heart, as May claims to do, or who has any self-respect or integrity at all, which in May's case I can't address. It's an open question at this point as to whether May actually belongs within any of those groups.

Related posts:

And You Wondered Why I Like To Read Fantasy
Stimson and Liberals: A Sort of Grand Synthesis
Stimson Update
More on Stimson
The Price Of Speaking The Party Line

(You might think from the number of posts devoted to this topic that I thought it was important. I did. I tend to bristle at any attempt to undercut, subvert, or otherwise injure the Constitution and/or our real traditions. I saw this episode, and still do, as an attempt to do just that. The comments by May and Steyn, neither of whom I believe has any reverence for our founding princples whatsoever, only confirm my opinion. The post "Stimson and Liberals" is the key one here.)

PS: TBogg has weighed in on this one, and as usual, it's choice. Seems Andy McCarthy also wants to chant the mantra.