This letter is associated with the following article:
Letters
Wednesday, November 19, 2008 12:00 AM

Preliminary facts and thoughts about Eric Holder

Is Obama's likely nominee for Attorney General an encouraging sign for advocates of the Constitution and the rule of law?

Read other letters about this article

  • Wednesday, November 19, 2008 09:11 AM

    jschultz

    Glenn and others are incorrectly criticizing the remarks Holder made about the likes of Atta in the wake of 9/11. Holder was very clear and repeatedly said that such people are *NOT* POWs and he is 100% correct about that!

    You're mistaken. I'm aware of the distinction you're drawing, but don't agree that what I wrote was wrong.

    Holder didn't merely say that they weren't entitled to all of the Geneva protections. He said they weren't entitled to any: "they are not, in fact, people entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention."

    His reasoning was the same as the Bush administration's: that because they're unlawful combatants, they're not entitled to any of the protections. That's the position Hamdan rejected, and this is how I described Hamdan's holding: "it ruled that even Al Qaeda detainees are entitled to the minimum protections afforded to all detainees by Common Article 3 of the Geneva Convention."

    Holder was specifically asked about the divergence of opinion between Rumsfeld and Powell and he sided with Rumsfeld -- that the detainees, to use Holder's words, "are not, in fact, people entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention."

Most Active Letters Threads

505

The crazy, irrational beliefs of Muslims

Tom Friedman explains the real problem: stupid Muslims think the U.S. is about war and aggression.
426

A key British official reminds us of the forgotten anthrax attack

A vast array of establishment and expert sources do not believe this episode was really resolved.
291

The face of rotted Washington

Evan Bayh demands more debt-financed war - fought by others - while boasting that he's a stern "deficit hawk."
210

Is Obama's civil liberties record understandable?

Was it unreasonable to expect him to adhere to his commitments regarding the Constitution?
145

Bigotry wins in Switzerland

By voting to ban the construction of minarets, Switzerland apes the most extreme intolerance in the Muslim world

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon