Barry Wingard Explained

Barry Wingard
Birth Date:14 December 1966
Nationality:American
Known For:Defended captives before Guantanamo military commissions
Occupation:Lawyer, military officer

Barry Wingard (born December 14, 1966) is an American lawyer and retired lieutenant colonel in the United States Air National Guard.[1] [2]

Military career

Wingard's original military service was an enlisted soldier in the United States Army.[1] Wingard is an Iraq War Veteran.[3] [4] He served fifteen years in the United States Army, prior to earning a Juris Doctor degree and joining the United States Air Force.

Legal career

In civilian life Wingard is a public defender in Allegheny County Pittsburgh.[4] [5] [6] [7]

Wingard is a military lawyer in the United States Air Force Judge Advocate General's Corps and serves with the Pennsylvania Air National Guard.

Lieutenant Colonel Wingard served as one of the attorneys for Kuwaiti detainee in Guantanamo Fayiz Al Kandari who was charged before a Guantanamo military commission in 2008.[1] [8] [9] [10]

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette described Wingard and Darrel Vandeveld as "...among a handful of military attorneys who have chosen to risk their careers by publicly voicing criticisms of the Military Commissions, which face an uncertain future."[5]

On September 30, 2012, Lillian Thomas, writing in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, wrote that, paradoxically, when the Office of Military Commissions suddenly dropped all charges against Faiz al Kandari, it made it more difficult for Wingard to work on his behalf.[2]

Col. Wingard, 45, long maintained that the charges against his client -- material support of terrorism and conspiracy -- were based on flimsy, third-hand evidence. But now that they have been dropped, his client's situation is worse, since there is now no real hope of a judicial proceeding, and his ability to advocate for Mr. al-Kandari is reduced.

Thomas pointed out that Wingard could no longer travel to Kuwait to seek exculpatory evidence, he would no longer be provided with government translators.[2] Guantanamo authorities have arbitrarily cancelled visits to Guantanamo for client-attorney interviews, and his correspondence with his client is no longer protected from censors' scrutiny.

Notes and References

  1. News: No Justice Today at Guantanamo. 2009-07-01. Barry Wingard. The Washington Post. 2009-07-01.
  2. News: A military attorney's access to his Guantanamo client eroded . . Lillian Thomas . 2012-09-30 . 2012-10-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121027043012/http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/world/a-military-attorneys-access-to-his-guantanamo-client-eroded-655532/ . live . Col. Wingard, 45, long maintained that the charges against his client -- material support of terrorism and conspiracy -- were based on flimsy, third-hand evidence. But now that they have been dropped, his client's situation is worse, since there is now no real hope of a judicial proceeding, and his ability to advocate for Mr. al-Kandari is reduced. .
  3. News: Two Kuwaiti detainees in Gitmo prison to be tried in US . 2009-06-10 . Nawara Fattahova . . dead . 2009-07-02 . 2012-02-24 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120224115557/http://kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=Njg2NzA2MjY4.
  4. News: No justice today at Guantanamo . . Barry Wingard . 2009-07-02 . dead . The writer is a lieutenant colonel in the Pennsylvania Air National Guard and an Air Force judge advocate general. He began his career in the Army as an enlisted infantry soldier. . 2012-10-01 . 2010-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100207000506/http://juneauempire.com/stories/070209/opi_458204919.shtml.
  5. News: Military attorneys risk careers to criticize practices at Guantanamo. 2009-05-10. Lillian Thomas. Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2009-07-01.
  6. News: Guantanamo suicide exposes detainees' despair under Obama . 2009-06-05 . . dead . 2021-10-11 . 2012-09-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120918030453/http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/international/2009/June/international_June417.xml&section=international&col.
  7. News: Going Along to Get Along: Can Kuwait Ever Satisfy U.S. Demands? . . Barry Wingard . 2010-06-01 . 2012-09-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120927234902/http://pubrecord.org/commentary/7773/going-along-to-get-along-can-kuwait-ever-satisfy-us-demands/ . live . Nonetheless, the reverse of this scenario is exactly how the US has treated its ally Kuwait in connection with the remaining Kuwaiti detainees confined at Guantanamo Bay. For eight years, in response to each U.S. demand, Kuwait has given the required assurance or taken the required action, only to face expanding requirements and watch the goal line shift further back. .
  8. News: Detainees in Guantanamo fear indefinite detention . . Jenifer Fenton . 2011-10-17 . 2012-10-01 . 2022-06-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220607125600/https://www.cnn.com/2011/10/17/world/meast/guantanamo-kuwait-detainees/ . live . Lt. Col. Barry Wingard is defending Al Kandari before the military commission that is hearing his case at Guantanamo Bay. He says that after the 9/11 attacks, Al Kandari remembers leaflets falling all around him. On the leaflet there was a picture of an Afghan man, who was holding a bag of money. The leaflet read: "You turn in your Arabs and we will give you money." .
  9. News: Sunday Forum: Eight years later, still waiting for justice . . Barry Wingard . 2009-07-26 . 2012-10-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20121029081102/http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/perspectives/sunday-forum-eight-years-later-still-waiting-for-justice-350999/ . live . I received military orders last year directing me to report to Washington, DC, to defend a Kuwaiti detainee at Guantanamo named Fayiz al-Kandari. Prior to accepting these orders, I assumed Guantanamo Bay was full of al-Qaida operatives and others involved with the Sept. 11 attacks on our nation. I have since learned that is not the case. .
  10. News: The still-growing NPR "torture" controversy . . Glenn Greenwald . Glenn Greenwald . 2009-07-02 . 2012-04-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120415083227/http://www.salon.com/2009/07/02/npr_2/ . live . In fact, as reported just recently by Harper‘s Luke Mitchell, Jeremy Scahill, and Lt. Col. Barry Wingard, there is ample evidence that very serious abuse is still occurring in America’s detention facilities, including at Guantanamo (all of which confirmed similar reports from earlier this year). .

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Barry Wingard".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.