Monday, August 18, 2008

Obama's advisor is defense counsel for Panamanian official indicted on charges of murdering an American soldier

I can't believe I missed this! In the course of researching my next post on McCain's and Obama's contrasting positions on free trade, I came across this from ABC's Jake Tapper:
Greg Craig, a senior foreign policy adviser to Obama, is a partner at the big-shot DC law firm Williams & Connolly. There Craig represents Pedro Miguel González.

González is president of the Panamanian Legislature and is also under indictment in the U.S. for murdering U.S. Army Sgt. Zak Hernández in 1992.
Several paragraphs later, there's this from Obama:
"Until that situation is resolved, we cannot support any trade agreement with Panama," Obama wrote.

Craig also represents Carlos Sánchez-Berzaín, the Bolivian Defense Minister who has been accused in a federal lawsuit of "crimes against humanity" because of his alleged role in the suppression of labor union riots in 2003 that resulted in the deaths of 67 people.

This would be hilarious, if it were not so serious. In essence, Obama is saying that his advisor gets a pass, and Panama takes the fall, because of this case.

It's just another case of Obama protecting his personal cronies while giving the cold shoulder to this country's vulnerable allies, from Iraq to Colombia to Georgia to Panama.