Fred Thompson Defends Terrorists

Posted by Cliff Schecter at 12:00 PM on September 11, 2007.

Cliff Schecter: Add another interesting entry to the list of Fred Thompson's legal/lobbying clientele: Libyan terrorists.

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This post, written by Cliff Schecter, originally appeared on Cliff Schecter's Blog

Sure, everyone deserves a lawyer in our system (except for those who Lobbyist Thompson and his friends would now throw into Guantanamo, of course).

But does everyone have to choose to defend those who blew up Pan Am Flight 103 and accept their blood money? Well, no.

But Fred Thompson did:

Add another interesting entry to the list of Fred Thompson's legal/lobbying clientele: Libyan terrorists.

The New York Times reports that billing records from the early 1990's show that Thompson gave advice to a colleague who was working on behalf of two Libyan intelligence officials implicated in the infamous Pan Am Flight 103 bombing in 1988, which killed 270 people.

At the time, Thompson worked for the Washington firm Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn, and logged 3.3 billable hours giving advice to Arent Fox attorney John Culver, a former Democratic senator from Iowa, on jurisdictional issues surrounding the case.

One of the two suspects, Abdel Basset Ali al-Megrahi, was later convicted and sentenced to 27 years in prison in Scotland.

Will the news that Thompson provided legal counsel in a terrorist bombing case hinder him among conservative activists? On top of news that he lobbied for an abortion-rights group around the same period, it certainly can't help.

Tagged as: terrorism, justice system, thompson, libya

Cliff Schecter blogs at cliffschecter.com.

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Fred's an empty suit [Report this comment] Posted by: lamar on Sep 11, 2007 12:53 PM Current rating: 1 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Please, this is a non-story. When it's Lynn Stewart defending terrorists, she's a due process champion, when it's Fred Thompson, it's bloodmoney. The fact is that it takes a lot of courage and integrity to represent unpopular defendants. Fred Thompson is an empty suit, but your story makes it seem like he has substance. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Non-story. What about the vaunted ACLU, Kunstler, the Gitmo defenders, [Report this comment] Posted by: albrechtkrausse on Sep 11, 2007 12:57 PM Current rating: 2 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] and all the other lawyers, lobbyists, columnists, politicans, and pundits who daily defend terrorists, detainees, the Jena Six, the illegal aliens, Gitmo prisoners, and even admitted own baby killers? Usually they are lionised on Alternet. Now a Republican is involved and its "he is friends with terrorist muslims". Big deal. It is called an adversarial legal system and it is American as apple-pie. Everyone is entitled to representation and everyone has the right to free speech (at least until the Democrat/Republic Military Commissions Act, Patriot Acts, etc were made law.) [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Surprise, surprise?? [Report this comment] Posted by: SackofWoe0 on Sep 12, 2007 6:52 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] Thompson is a loser, nothing surprises me about him, just take a hard look at his voting record and who contributes to his (a day late and a dollar short campaign entry). He is a B actor and deserves nothing from the American public. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Thompson [Report this comment] Posted by: toots on Sep 12, 2007 6:59 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] He is a B actor and would be a D president [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] "don't confuse the lawyer with the client" [Report this comment] Posted by: BlueBerry PickN on Sep 12, 2007 7:03 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] indeed.... who is scarier, Thompson? I'm thinking Thompson would have a bigger army & budget... as long as China keeps signing the cheques... BlueBerry Pick'n can be found @ ThisCanadian "Silent Freedom is Freedom Silenced" [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] what Libian terrorists... [Report this comment] Posted by: baldo on Sep 12, 2007 7:52 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] They were innocent. The evidence was fabricated by the CIA. and the CIA most likely put the bomb in or God knows who, but not the poor Libian who has spent already too many years in Jail for nothing... [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Correct me [Report this comment] Posted by: paschn on Sep 12, 2007 8:36 AM Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] If I'm wrong, but didn't this dragon with the "good 'ole boy" demeanor let it slip that Nixon recorded all his conversations in the oval office to feed his Republican ego at a later more convenient time, then keep warning him about impending "secret" actions which eventually led to tricky Dick's collapse, ( no pun intended)? If that's the case, then, given the track record of the U.S. sheeple, he'll prolly be the next ruler of the Evil Empire. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] Remember John Adams [Report this comment] Posted by: dbaldwin on Sep 12, 2007 9:22 AM Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] This is a cheap shot. It is good at such times to remember that John Adams defended both the soldiers involved in the Boston Massacre and the Amistad mutineers--and won the case for both groups. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5] They were billed hours weren't they? [Report this comment] Posted by: KeepsonTickn on Sep 12, 2007 6:43 PM Current rating: Not yet rated [1 = poor; 5 = excellent] If he didn't get paid, it might be newsworthy. [« Reply to this comment] [Post a new comment »] [Rate this comment: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5]

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