US to Lawyers: Explain Suspect Skivvies
The U.S. military is investigating how several prisoners at Guantanamo Bay came to be wearing unauthorized underwear, and among those it is questioning are their attorneys.
A letter sent last month by the Office of the Navy Judge Advocate General to a lawyer with Reprieve, a British human rights group representing the inmates, suggests that Clive Stafford Smith and a colleague might have “surreptitiously” provided the prisoners with contraband skivvies, reports the Associated Press. However, Smith calls the idea that he and fellow attorney Zachary Katznelson smuggled unauthorized underwear to their clients “patently absurd.”
He notes that the brand of the illicitly supplied briefs, Under Armour, is popular with members of the military and suggests that investigators check to see if the contraband underwear was purchased at the Gitmo navy base.
Army Lt. Col. Ed Bush, a spokesman for the jail, points out that the matter is more than just an issue of illicit underwear, since the incident suggests the prisoners could also be getting other smuggled items that may pose a security threat. “There is no room for error when working in a dangerous environment, and constant vigilance is of the utmost importance,” he says.
