Trips to Cuba

So who in St. Louis is getting offers for Department of Defense junkets, and where can I sign up?

A writer for the popular national politics blog Talking Points Memo relayed a conversation with an employee of a St. Louis television station about a recent public relations trip the DOD arranged to visit detainee conditions in Guantanamo.

I heard from TPM Reader WS, who works for a St. Louis television station and says he was invited by the Department of Defense to fly down to Gitmo last month for a tour of the detainee facilities.
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Incidentally, WS has no idea why he in particular was invited on the trip, but he couldn't resist the chance to go to Cuba. He has no plans to air an account of his trip.

The conversation between TMP's David Kurtz and the unnamed St. Louisan was sparked by Kurtz's coverage of the fallout from comments by Charles Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs. Stimson suggested to Federal News Radio Thursday that corporations should re-evaluate doing business with law firms that allow their lawyers to do pro-bono representation of detainees at Gitmo. The lawyers hail from some of the top firms in the country.

The trip itself was led by Stimson in an effort to demonstrate the quality conditions the detainees are kept in.

The American Bar Association and others have loudly criticized Stimson for his comments saying the tradition of pro-bono representation is an important part of ensuring the protection of legal rights as guaranteed by the Constitution. Stimson's comments were viewed as potentially having a chilling effect.

ABA President Karen J. Mathis:

Lawyers represent people in criminal cases to fulfill a core American value: the treatment of all people equally before the law. To impugn those who are doing this critical work -- and doing it on a volunteer basis -- is deeply offensive to members of the legal profession, and we hope to all Americans.

The Pentagon itself has disavowed Stimson's comments.

Stimson's comments came after conservative talk radio host Monica Crowley sent a FOIA request to obtain the names of the lawyers and firms representing the detainees. Stimson's comments were reflected in a Friday op-ed by Robert Pollock in the Wall Street Journal (not available online).

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