Latif

Brian Foster of Covington & Burling, who represents several Guantanamo detainees, writes in with the following comments on my defense of CIA lawyer Jonathan Fredman---and the case of his former client, Adnan Latif:

I have spent a lot of time publishing other people's statements on the death of Adnan Latif over the past couple of days and have refrained from expressing my own views---in part because I have been gathering and composing my thoughts, which are mixed and which I offer here without apology for their lack of especial coherence. I find Latif's case uncommonly sad---not just sad in the way that all deaths in custody are sad, but sad for a different reason: Almost nobody really thought that Adnan Latif needed to be in custody at all. His death, therefore, should have been avoidable.

At least, that’s what I’m hearing. Yes, this is the same Latif whose case riled the D.C. Circuit and has caused much discussion on this site. This is going to be a big deal. Stay tuned. UPDATE: Here is SouthCom’s press release:

The government's opposition to cert in Latif is now public. The government argues that "The decision of the Court of Appeals is correct and does not conflict with any decision of this Court or any other court of appeals. Further review is not warranted." You can read Latif's cert petition, as well as amicus briefs on cert.