The New Republic Daily
Report
04/28/11
What Did WikiLeaks Tell Us About Guantánamo? Exactly What We Wanted to Hear. Joseph Margulies
WikiLeaks recently released a trove of secret risk
assessments regarding nearly every prisoner who has ever been held at Guantánamo
Bay. I have been continually involved in Guantánamo litigation longer than any
lawyer in the world, having been counsel of record in Rasul v. Bush, the first
case that went to the Supreme Court from Guantánamo. Over the years, I have
defended a number of prisoners at the base. Yet, in the Kafkaesque way that
these things work, I cannot comment on the WikiLeaks material because they
remain classified. But, even if I could, I would write about something else,
because, when it comes to Guantánamo, oddities like this are no longer what
matters. Indeed, they’ve been replaced by base’s symbolism in the national
consciousness.
It is sometimes said that the 1960s have become a cultural litmus test. A person’s mental image of that turbulent decade predicts a great deal about his or her position on many of the hot-button issues we face today. Those for whom the 1960s meant the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the end of Jim Crow, the narrowing of the chasm between rich and poor, and the wistful end of New Deal liberalism have a very different vision of the country than those for whom it meant urban riots, campus chaos, the assassination of two Kennedys and a King, dramatically rising crime rates, and the first welcome stirrings of modern conservatism. In this way, the decade was not simply ten years in the long march of a nation’s history, but a rare moment when competing visions of national identity collided in the public square.”
Continue reading "What Did WikiLeaks Tell Us About Guantánamo? Exactly What We Wanted to Hear."
Why Justices Ginsburg and Breyer Should Retire Immediately Randall Kennedy
Is the Islamic Veil a Symbol of Oppression or Identity? Christine Stansell
04/28/11
What Did WikiLeaks Tell Us About Guantánamo? Exactly What We Wanted to Hear. Joseph Margulies
WikiLeaks recently released a trove of secret risk
assessments regarding nearly every prisoner who has ever been held at Guantánamo
Bay. I have been continually involved in Guantánamo litigation longer than any
lawyer in the world, having been counsel of record in Rasul v. Bush, the first
case that went to the Supreme Court from Guantánamo. Over the years, I have
defended a number of prisoners at the base. Yet, in the Kafkaesque way that
these things work, I cannot comment on the WikiLeaks material because they
remain classified. But, even if I could, I would write about something else,
because, when it comes to Guantánamo, oddities like this are no longer what
matters. Indeed, they’ve been replaced by base’s symbolism in the national
consciousness.It is sometimes said that the 1960s have become a cultural litmus test. A person’s mental image of that turbulent decade predicts a great deal about his or her position on many of the hot-button issues we face today. Those for whom the 1960s meant the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the end of Jim Crow, the narrowing of the chasm between rich and poor, and the wistful end of New Deal liberalism have a very different vision of the country than those for whom it meant urban riots, campus chaos, the assassination of two Kennedys and a King, dramatically rising crime rates, and the first welcome stirrings of modern conservatism. In this way, the decade was not simply ten years in the long march of a nation’s history, but a rare moment when competing visions of national identity collided in the public square.”
Continue reading "What Did WikiLeaks Tell Us About Guantánamo? Exactly What We Wanted to Hear."
Why Justices Ginsburg and Breyer Should Retire Immediately Randall Kennedy
Is the Islamic Veil a Symbol of Oppression or Identity? Christine Stansell
