Thomas Fleener is an American military officer and lawyer. Fleener, a

major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

in the

United States Army Reserve The United States Army Reserve (USAR) is a Military reserve force, reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the Army element of the reserve components of the United States Armed ...

, has been appointed to serve as a defense lawyer in the

Guantanamo military commissions The Guantanamo military commissions were established by President George W. Bush through a military order on November 13, 2001, to try certain non-citizen terrorism suspects at the Guantanamo Bay prison. To date, there have been a total of eight ...

. He has been appointed to serve as the defense lawyer for

Ali Hamza Ahmed Sulayman al Bahlul Ali Hamza Ahmad Suliman al-Bahlul (born September 11, 1969) is a Yemeni citizen who has been held as an enemy combatant since 2002 in the United States Guantanamo Bay detention camp. He boycotted the Guantanamo Military Commissions, arguing that ...

Career and noteworthy cases

In his civilian capacity, Fleener is an attorney in his own law firm in

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

. A former

Federal Public Defender In the United States, federal Public defender (United States), public defender organizations are entities in the Federal government of the United States, United States Federal Government, and their staffs are federal employees. Federal public defe ...

, Fleener continues to serve in the Reserves as a Judge Advocate with the 22d Legal Support Organization, Trial Defense Service, defending soldiers accused of misconduct. He is a member of the bars of Iowa and Wyoming. Prior to becoming a Federal Public Defender, Fleener served on active duty as an Army Judge Advocate for nearly eight years in both the United States and Europe. Prior to attending college and law school in Arkansas, Fleener also served on active duty as an enlisted soldier. Though Al Bahlul has consistently insisted that he wants to represent himself or be represented by a Yemeni attorney, the United States Defense Department's Office of Military Commissions ruled that military defense counsel must represent defendants according to military commission rules.DefenseLink News Article: Lawyers Address Thorny Issues on Eve of Military Commissions Hearings
/ref> Fleener understands Al Bahlul's wish to defend himself, agrees he should have that right, and said that forcing counsel upon the defendant "may give the appearance to the outside world that I am here not to serve as Mr. al Bahlul's attorney, rather simply to add some air of legitimacy to an otherwise wholly illegitimate process." In 2006, Fleener said: ''"For four years they wouldn't let detainees have lawyers; now they're shoving one down his throat." '' Fleener and the question whether detainees should be able to represent themselves were featured in the October 2007 issue of the "

Yale Law Journal ''The Yale Law Journal'' (YLJ) is a student-run law review affiliated with the Yale Law School. Published continuously since 1891, it is the most widely known of the eight law reviews published by students at Yale Law School. The journal is one ...

" in an article by Matthew Bloom entitled: "I Did Not Come Here To Defend Myself": Responding to War on Terror Detainees' Attempts To Dismiss Counsel and Boycott the Trial." He was profiled in the August 2007 edition of '' GQ'' in an article titled, "The Defense Will Not Rest." After two years of appearances before the

, Fleener returned to civilian practice, and in 2008 opened a private criminal defense law firm in

Laramie, Wyoming Laramie () is a List of municipalities in Wyoming, city in and the county seat of Albany County, Wyoming, United States, known for its high elevation at , for its railroad history, and as the home of the University of Wyoming. The population wa ...

References

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Guantanamo trials to start
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Special Broadcasting Service The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public broadcasting, public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from tax revenue. SBS operates six TV channels (SBS (Australian TV chann ...

'', January 11, 2006 #
Security Detainees/Enemy Combatants Military Commission Trial Observation: Boycott - United States v. Al Bahlul
''

Human Rights First Human Rights First (formerly known as the Lawyers Committee for International Human Rights) is a nonpartisan, 501(c)(3), international human rights organization based in New York City, Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. Its work centers on four m ...

'', January 12, 2006 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fleener, Thomas Guantanamo Bay attorneys United States Army Judge Advocate General's Corps United States Army officers Living people Public defenders Year of birth missing (living people)