Attorney Gen. pick defends FALN pardons

Attorney General nominee Eric Holder defended pardons granted in 1999 by former president Bill Clinton to sixteen convicted Puerto Rican nationalists.

During nomination hearings earlier today, Holder deemed the imprisoned nationalists as “bad people” but said that the decision to grant clemency "was reasonable." Holder added that the clemency was fair since the convicted men didn’t carry out the violent acts that they were accused of. (The F.B.I. would likely disagree with such a perspective).

Holder was “the No. 2 official at the Justice Department” at the time of the controversial pardons which included clemency to fugitive businessman Marc Rich.

The convicted men were members of the members of the FALN and Los Macheteros and were accused of violent acts like the fatal 1975 bombing of New York’s Fraunces Tavern.

Holder also spoke out on the possibility that the military prison at Guantanamo Bay could close:

While he said the Obama administration will move to shut down the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, Holder said it could take a significant amount of time to do so. He also said that some terrorists in the future could be prosecuted under some form of military commissions if the commissions are revamped to provide better protections for the accused, and that others would be prosecuted in U.S. federal courts.

Many detainees could be transferred to other countries, Holder added, but the Obama administration is still struggling with what to do with the most dangerous terrorist suspects who cannot be tried in civilian courts.

Despite the controversy over Holder’s controversial role at the Justice Department, no Republican legislator has yet to publicly oppose his nomination.

Image- AP (“In this Dec. 1, 2008, file photo, Attorney General-designate Eric Holder speaks during a news conference with President-elect Barack Obama, right, in Chicago.”)
Online Sources- The Latin Americanist, AP, CNN, MSNBC, Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor