Are there any US lawyers here? (Re. San Bernardino)

[MacCruiskeen]

... or any spouses, family or friends thereof?

"Lawyers" including law students, academics in law depts, legal associations, "progressive" legal alliances, etc.

I am thinking that the only hope of doing something about this blatantly-obvious frame-up is to form a sizable group of professionals in the legal field who are willing to risk being vilified in public by fools and worse.

There is, I think, something called the American Muslim Lawyers' Association (or similar), but the movement I'm thinking about would really have to be a broad-based "non-denominational" alliance to have any chance of success.

[Grizzly]

If such an organization were to start, I'd suggest the following:

The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy
http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Crusades- ... 0231126670
Columbia University Press (November 26, 2003)

Not since the Crusades of the Middle Ages has Islam evoked the degree of fear, hostility, and ethnic and religious stereotyping that is evident throughout Western culture today. As conflicts continue to proliferate around the globe, the perception of a colossal, unyielding, and unavoidable struggle between Islam and the West has intensified. These numerous conflicts, both actual and ideological, have revived fears of an ongoing "clash of civilizations"―an intractable and irreconcilable conflict of values between Western cultures and an Islam that is portrayed as hostile and alien.

The New Crusades takes head-on the idea of an emergent "Cold War" between Islam and the West. It explores the historical, political, and institutional forces that have raised the specter of a threatening and monolithic Muslim enemy and provides a nuanced critique of much received wisdom on the topic, particularly the "clash of civilizations" theory. Bringing together twelve of the most influential thinkers in Middle Eastern and religious studies―including Edward Said, Roy Mottahedeh, and Fatema Mernissi―this timely collection confronts such depictions of the Arab-Islamic world, showing their inner workings and how they both empower and shield from scrutiny Islamic radicals who operate from similar paradigms of inevitable and absolute conflict.

[MacCruiskeen]

Thanks, Grizzly. One might also mention Reel Bad Arabs: How Hollywood Vilifies a People (link to full film on YouTube).

But no one needs to do any historical research, and in fact all this stuff is just a distraction when it comes to the specific task of challenging the murder and posthumous frame-up of Syed R. Farook and Tashfeen Malik. That legal challenge can very easily be mounted, because the case against that dead couple is so feeble as to be non-existent.

So, again: Any lawyers here?

[Wombaticus Rex]

So, again: Any lawyers here?

Heh.

Yeah.

He's a little busy, though.

[MacCruiskeen]

All them Anonymi need to stand up and be counted.

[Luther Blissett]

I have worked with an activist who does criminal record expungement and civil rights law. I would be a little remiss to involve him personally but others from his organization could be interested. PM me if you want their web address. I'm not sure if this is too fringey or out of their expertise.

[MacCruiskeen]

Thanks very much, Luther, I appreciate it. But I don't see much point in me contacting them, because I am not a lawyer, not a US citizen, and not even resident in the USA. But I might PM you yet, if there's little or no other response to this thread.

Somewhere in the other thread, Stickdog99 posted a very good, very short, bullet-point summary of the sheer decrepitude of the case against that couple. I'll see if I can find it. Even the busiest and most impatient lawyer would, I think, be disturbed by the cogency of that summary. I am imagining something like that -- as an initial approach -- being mailed to any US lawyers who might be expected to make an effort.

[Luther Blissett]

Yeah feel free - and if I run into him out and about in the city I'll mention it. Right now I'm just indebted to him and actually owe him a favor (not that this constitutes a favor for me).

This Stickdog post?

[82_28]

I know a federal judge that I once vociferously warned about the right wing like ten years ago at a party at his house. He was all businessish about it but said he "heard me". I could probably bring this up to him. But I won't. Because well, he's a federal judge. Though I am friends with his wife and nephew.

[MacCruiskeen]

bump

Thanks for all suggestions/pms so far. Keep 'em coming. The more quickly, publicly and massively this frame-up is opposed, the better. It will be a disaster, and not just for the US, if it goes unopposed.

Btw, those two lawyers (for the Malik/Farook family) are already brave men, but I hope they will get braver and more effective. They need support, moral and otherwise.

[tapitsbo]

I think the day may come for lawfare (or justice, if you will) concerning cases like these;

In the meantime concerned parties should create a central repository of data about the incidents and find others (including overseas) who share their interest.

The compiled data can be distributed widely and accumulate cultural and political value as time goes on.

After all, the continuing legal cases against former functionaries of Nazi Germany illustrate the possible reversals of fortune that may take place legally...

Anybody who's ever known any lawyers will understand how difficult it can be to address cases like this without the groundwork for institutional momentum first being set in place, though.

(Or you can look at the unrewarding history of legal cases around 9/11)

[MacCruiskeen]

Anybody who's ever known any lawyers will understand how difficult it can be to address cases like this without the groundwork for institutional momentum first being set in place, though.

No, a FOIA request for (e.g.) the couple's passport/visa-application details requires no "groundwork for institutional momentum first being set in place" whatsoever. The exact height of both Tashfeen Malik and Syed Farook is easily discoverable and requires no great effort or preparation at all. If that FOIA request goes more than one day without answer, all the lawyers have to do is question the couple's friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, grandmother, fellow-worshippers at the mosque etc.

That is already enough to prove that the couple are innocent and that they have been framed by "the authorities".

A child could manage it. A brave child.

[tapitsbo]

Oh, it's clear that there's all kinds of compromising evidence against the official story. What good has this done in the trials of Guantanamo prisoners, etc, though?

I'm quite supportive of the idea that you're trying to get rolling here - I think it's quite powerful especially in the medium to long term?

[MacCruiskeen]

Oh, it's clear that there's all kinds of compromising evidence against the official story.

No, that's not what's clear. What's clear is that the "official story" is a grotesque pack of obvious lies and that the dead couple are innocent and have been framed. Any twelve-year-old who is awake and paying attention to the case will have noticed that.

What good has this done in the trials of Guantanamo prisoners, etc, though?

Right, tapitsbo, you've convinced me. Nothing can be done about anything, so we should all just carry on watching TV.

I'm quite supportive of the idea that you're trying to get rolling here - I think it's quite powerful especially in the medium to long term?

No. It has start taking effect immediately to have any hope of success. This time next month it will be like, history, man.

The problem is both simple and obvious: Everyone is too scared to speak up.

[tapitsbo]

You watch TV?

Wouldn't an immediate go at a legal solution just lead to a "terrorism" style court case where everything is classified, etc.

I'm really trying to understand that part.

Clearly you're not afraid to speak up - why not consolidate the info from your thread here and signal boost it across online communities?

The "mainstream" is beginning a slow process of decoherence - just because they allow very few discrepancies into their narrative doesn't mean that alternate attempts at narrative/world building are fruitless.