Pentagon official resigns over detainee remark
Source: Reuters
(Adds ACLU comment, paragraphs 7-8) By Jeremy Pelofsky WASHINGTON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - The Pentagon official who criticized law firms for defending detainees held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has resigned due to the backlash over his remarks, a Defense Department spokesman said on Friday. Charles "Cully" Stimson, deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs, last month called it "shocking" that major U.S. law firms represented Guantanamo detainees for free and said they would likely suffer financially after their corporate clients learned of the work. "He made the decision based on the current controversy," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters. "He believed it hampered his ability to be effective in this position." Stimson, himself a lawyer, submitted his resignation on Thursday and his last day in the position would be Friday, Whitman said, stressing Defense Secretary Robert Gates did not ask him to resign. The Pentagon disavowed his remarks and Stimson apologized, saying he supported pro bono work and that the legal system worked best when both sides had competent representation. Stimson had been in his post since January 2006 and Whitman defended Stimson's work, saying he had strengthened the department's relations with non-governmental organizations, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross. The American Civil Liberties Union national legal director, Steven Shapiro, said he feared Stimson's original remarks represented the Bush administration's broader opposition to due process for the detainees. "My greater concern is that his comments, as inappropriate as they were, accurately reflect the mind-set of an administration that has never been interested in providing a fair process to the Guantanamo detainees," he told Reuters. About 395 prisoners suspected of having al Qaeda or Taliban links remain at the Guantanamo prison camp. Human rights groups have called on the Bush administration to close the facility. The U.S. Supreme Court in 2004 ruled detainees could go to American courts to seek their release or changes in confinement conditions. But in October 2006 Bush signed a new law taking away prisoners' rights to the U.S. court system. More than 770 prisoners have been held at Guantanamo since the United States began using it about five years ago to house suspects captured during its self-described war on terrorism in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. (Additional reporting by Andrew Gray.)
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