CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) -
A U.S. citizen captured during the U.S. war in Afghanistan and detained for more than two years without charges saw a lawyer for the first time on Tuesday in a meeting closely monitored by his military guards.Frank Dunham, a federal public defender, said he spent about an hour with Yaser Esam Hamdi inside a South Carolina navy base, but could not disclose what his client said since everything Hamdi says is classified.
"I'm not allowed to discuss anything that he said to me. That's one of the rules and conditions for seeing him," Dunham told reporters outside the gate of the Charleston Naval Weapons Station.
Hamdi, who was born in the United States to Saudi parents and raised in Saudi Arabia, has been designated an "enemy combatant" and held without charge.
more:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=domesticNews&storyID=4274656_____________________________________________________________________
The article goes on to say that Hamdi and his attorney were not afforded a private conversation, and that their interchange was videotaped and witnessed by a naval officer. Anyone who thinks the USA PATRIOT Act is benign should read this...we're talking about a US citizen here.