Pentagon official quits over lawyer remarks

Yeah, I'm sure his "resignation" was his idea. He made a stupid mistake and is now paying the price.

A senior Pentagon official has resigned, it was disclosed today, three weeks after he ignited a firestorm of controversy by casting fellow lawyers as dishonorable for offering free-of-charge legal service to U.S.-held captives at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

Charles D. ''Cully'' Stimson, deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs, submitted his resignation Thursday, said Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman.

No replacement has been named.

But it comes at a crucial time. The Pentagon is gearing up to announce new charges and stage new war crimes tribunals called military commissions against at least a few of the 395 of so foreigners held in remote Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

And Stimson had been a major behind-the-scenes player, advocating Bush administration policy, shuttling special guests to the base and trying to promote a favorable image of the at-times controversial detention center.

It was unclear where he would go next.

Stimson, 43, is a Navy Reserves JAG officer and former federal prosecutor. He sparked a national legal controversy on Jan. 11, the fifth anniversary of the establishment of the prison camp, with some broadcast remarks on a Washington D.C. radio station, Federal New Radio.

Unprompted, during an interview, he rattled off a comprehensive list of leading U.S. law firms who let lawyers defend detainees -- and said corporate executives ``are going to make those law firms choose between representing terrorists or representing reputable firms.''

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Ex-Guantanamo inmate to run in Australia election

Australian Mamdouh Habib speaks to the media
in Auburn February 2, 2007. REUTERS/Ed Giles
So far this story makes the US look pretty silly if not worse.

And what if he wins? That means Australians elect terrorists to office? Highly unlikely.

An Australian once detained in Guantanamo Bay on suspicion of helping al Qaeda said on Friday he would stand for election to the New South Wales state parliament.

Mamdouh Habib, released in January 2005, was held in Guantanamo Bay without charge for almost three years after he was arrested crossing from Pakistan into Afghanistan three weeks after the September 11 attacks on the United States.

"We're here in Australia, this has nothing to do with Afghanistan," Habib told a news conference in Sydney called to announce he would run as an independent in the March 24 contest.

"This has nothing to do with terrorism -- we have no terrorists in Australia. If you want to talk about terror then talk to the U.S.," he said.

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