Remember when Charles Stimson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Detainee Affairs, threatened law firms representing detainees at Guantanamo?
The bullying has backfired in a big way, as Farah Stockman reports in today's Boston Globe
Two weeks ago, Stimson had this to say:
"I think quite honestly, when corporate CEOs see that those firms are representing the very terrorists who hurt their bottom line back in 2001, those CEOs are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms."
...He said that corporations would become outraged when they realized that their legal fees were subsidizing this kind of pro bono work.
Emphasis mine.
There was outrage all right, but not against the law firms.
Two weeks after a senior Pentagon official suggested that corporations should pressure their law firms to stop assisting detainees at Guantanamo Bay, major companies have turned the tables on the Pentagon and issued statements supporting the law firms' work on behalf of terrorism suspects.
WilmerHale, which represents six of the detainees got support from one of their big clients, Boston Scientific.
Charles Rudnick , a spokesman for Boston Scientific Corp., said the company supports the decision of its law firm, WilmerHale, to represent six men who were arrested in Bosnia in 2001 "because our legal system depends on vigorous advocacy for even the most unpopular causes."
Even defense contractor General Electric supported the firm (okay, not with gusto but what do you expect?)
"Justice is served when there is quality representation even for the unpopular," Denniston [GE spokesman] said in a statement.
Stimson's bullying may even have boosted fundraising efforts by defense attorneys traveling to Guantanamo.
Doris Tennant and Ellen Lubell have collected $7,000 in the past three weeks toward the estimated $20,000 they expect to spend defending an Algerian detainee known as Number 744. It is difficult to tell whether the controversy has made fund-raising easier, Tennant said, because Stimson's remarks coincided with their appeal for funds. But she said many of her supporters made reference to Stimson as they voiced their support and sent in checks.
The tables really are turning. I am writing a letter to the Globe thanking them for covering this story.