Judges question need for Gitmo genital searches
Source: Judges question need for Gitmo genital searches
Judges question need for Gitmo genital searches
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press | December 9, 2013 | Updated: December 9, 2013 1:22pm
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal appeals court judges Monday questioned whether the government has gone too far by searching the genital areas of Guantanamo detainees who want to meet with their lawyers.
"That's rather provocative and offensive, isn't it?" Judge Thomas Griffith asked a government lawyer at a hearing of a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Griffith, an appointee of President George W. Bush, added that the government has a "special obligation" to ensure that detainees' access to counsel is preserved.
Detainee lawyers say the searches began after prisoners were told they would have to travel from their resident camp to another site at the base to meet with or talk on the telephone with their lawyers. In July, U.S. District Court Judge Royce Lamberth ordered the government to end the searches as they pertain to detainees' access to counsel. He concluded that the motivation for the searches was not to enhance security, as the government claims, but to deter the detainees' access to attorneys. Lawyers for some detainees say their clients are foregoing the meetings rather than subjecting themselves to searches they consider religiously and culturally abhorrent.
But the appeals court put Lamberth's decision on hold while the higher court took up the case.
Justice Department lawyer Edward Himmelfarb tried to put a good spin on the genital searches, saying it was like a TSA search at the airport.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/politics/article/Judges-question-need-for-Gitmo-genital-searches-5048188.php
= new reply since forum marked as read
who am I to say "No"? 
All I ask is a kiss before and a meal after... 
