But what happened on the rest of the date with that blonde in Dupont Circle?

From a former colleage at the Advisory Board who just happened to recognize your name after 10 years.

...I've just got one question: why do you hate freedom?

I believe John Adams defended some British soldiers during the revolutionary war. Our constitution provides all with the rights to a good defense. Sacrificing our constitution to fear will doom us all.

Keep it up, and thank you and your law firm!

Thank you for publishing this, Salon. If there are more things like this out there, please publish them also. I will be printing this out and distributing it to the other lawyers in my office. The situation in Guantanamo makes me feel so powerless, I wish I was in a position such as Mr. Raut where I could attempt to help. The continued existence of Guantanamo is a major failing of our society and government. How much longer will this national nightmare continue?

We need more lawyers like you!!! You are a true American- something that is getting rarer each day. As someone who knows how hard it is to get your own clients' work done (I've been a Paralegal way too long), I salute you for your assiduous pro bono work. It's good to know that not all lawyers are about the dollar and their egos. The constitution still means something, too. This country may make it after all.

Its a shame that Simpsom and his ilk are probably incapable of comprehending the contents of this letter.

Bless you for your work and for allowing me to feel that there are still people who appreciate what it means to be American.

The prison at Guantanamo Bay challenges everything I believe it means to be American.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

As you rightly point out Guantanamo exists to deny the people held there any rights. They aren't prisoners of law or war, they are simply "detainees" or "enemies." That makes me as much a prisoner of Guantanamo as the men held there. Even though I can thank God that I am allowed to sleep in my bed at night, I do not have peace. Five years after their capture I still don't know what they did to get there. Five years after their capture I don't even know by what law they might find justice.

Until we find a way to respect the rights that these man were granted by their creator, I know that it is only by the grace of God, not law, that I will not be thrown into some Guantanamo.

I'm sure he also has heard the question "Why do you hate freedom?" before, too.

Mr. Raut expressed the ideology superbly!

Here is what a layman, a patriot, and a native born American has to say about it.

There's something called "Innocent until proven guilty" that's a corner stone of our Country. Denying someone the right to a trial is un-American. That's something that my fellow Americans, at least most of us who were born here has forgotten. It doesn't matter who it is, Martha Stewart or someone accused of being a terrorist, folks immediately assume that the authorities are correct and infallible.

They are not.

There was someone named Mr. Brandon Mayfield, an attourney himself, who was accused, arrested, imprisoned, and tortured by the US Government because the FBI refused to believe the Spanish police that he was innocent of any terrorist links. (He married an Egyptian woman and converted to Islam - which I guess is becoming a crime in itself amoung my fellow Americans: regardless of the First Ammendment.)

There's a reason we have due process and when we start to deny people of that right because their are the wrong people, we are destroying our own freedoms.

So, if you do not think someone deserves to be defend by a lawyer, I ask you, "Why do you hate freedom and America?"

Sources: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/30/us/30settle.html?ex=1322542800&en=a182c83894570961&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

John Adamas also erected the most odious and oppressive, and frankly, illegal and unconstitutional act in the history of the US: The Alien and Sedition Act. Which in short said, the President can hold w/o charge or trial, anyone on the planet who the President does not like for any cause, stated or not.

Thanks for writing and sharing this, Mr. Raut.

Stimson should be publicly rebuked by Gates, Bush and leaders of both political parties. He should then submit his letter of resignation to Gates.

John Adams defended (successfully) the British soldiers who fired on a crowd in Boston prior to the Revolution. The event is commonly referred to as the "Boston massacre."

...deserve nothing less than to be thrown in Guantanamo. After all, nothing illegal happens there, according to them. Unless of course he was being ironic, in which case he didn't try hard enough.

bjedward said: "I believe John Adams defended some British soldiers during the revolutionary war."

Almost, but not quite... Adams defended the British redcoats who fired on Bostonians in the so-called "Boston Massacre" of 1770 and thus a pre-Revolutiony incident.

The Bostonians were provoking/attacking/threatening the British soldiers; and when one of the redcoats was felled by an icy-snowball, they fired on their tormentors.

Their trial was delayed, letting colonists feelings cool down. Prominant Bostonians cooperated to make sure that the Brits got a "fair trial" so as NOT to alienate Moderates from the Patriot cause... Most of the Brits were aquitted. Two of them were "branded" on their thumbs (would branding be considered "cruel and unusual punishment" today?) And it all went down into history, art and propaganda as "The Boston Massacre".

John Adams was vilified by some... He lost business. But he was proud of what he did to the end of his life. Look it up on the web... It's a great story.

By the by, might Cully Stimson be acting in an unethical manner by calling for such a boycott from his bully-pulpit as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense? It sounds as if he is involved in some impropriety. I don't expect my government to do such things. If so, I hope he gets called on the carpet and scolded at least.