Mark S. Zaid

Mark S. Said is the Managing Partner in the Washington, D.C. law firm of Krieger & Zaid, PLLC and "specializes in litigation and lobbying on matters relating to international transactions, torts and crimes, national security, foreign sovereign and diplomatic immunity, defamation (plaintiff) and the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts (FOI/PA)." 

Famous Cases
"Many of my clients are well-known, and a great number of my cases have been very high-profile. For example, I filed the first civil lawsuit against the Government of Libya for the 1988 terrorist bombing of Pan Am Flight 103. I helped author the legislation that allowed victims of terrorism to sue certain foreign countries and this led to the $2.7 billion dollar settlement between the Flight 103 families and Libya.

"I am probably the only attorney who has ever litigated both the assassinations of President Lincoln (when I represented the relatives of John Wilkes Booth in an effort to exhume his alleged remains) and President Kennedy (not only did I represent several of his former Secret Service Agents, including one accused of 'accidentally' killing him, but also JFK's mistress and many authors of assassination books)."&mdash;Mark Zaid, May 6, 2005. 

"State Secrets"
Zaid "specializes in lawsuits against some of the government's most secretive agencies. Among his state secrets cases, only once did a judge side against the government, and that decision was reversed later by another court." 

Zaid "has participated in cases against or involving the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Departments of Defense, Health & Human Services, Justice and State, the Marshal's Service, Secret Service, Library of Congress, Taiwan, Mexico, Macedonia, the Government of Libya, and the Republic of Georgia." 

Murtha & Haditha
Zaid and Neal A. Puckett represent U.S. Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich in federal court that Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa) "falsely accused Wuterich 'of cold-blooded murder and war crimes.'"

"The suit accuses Murtha of spreading 'false and malicious lies' about Wuterich and his squad that were 'intended to serve his own private purpose and interests' and that Murtha's comments 'have been reproduced by countless third parties throughout the world'," the Associated Press reported August 2, 2006.

The suit "says many of Murtha's remarks were made outside his 'scope of employment as a congressman.'"

Profiles
Zaid is "also the Executive Director of the James Madison Project, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit, with the primary purpose of educating the public on issues relating to intelligence gathering and operations, secrecy policies, national security and government wrongdoing." 

Zaid is "a former Board member of the Public International Law & Policy Group, a non-profit organization which provides legal advice to newly independent states and states in transition, the International Law Student's Association, which oversees the Jessup International Moot Court Competition, Titanic International, Inc., a world-wide association that focuses on historic ocean liners, and the Arlington Sister City Association, which establishes relationships with foreign cities." 

Zaid is a "1992 graduate of Albany Law School of Union University in New York, where he served as an Associate Editor of the Albany Law Review, he completed his undergraduate education (cum laude) in 1989 at the University of Rochester, New York with honors in Political Science and high honors in History. Mr. Zaid is a member of the Bars of New York State, Connecticut, the District of Columbia, and several federal courts." 

Esquire Comics
"Mark S. Zaid was born in 1967, in Manhasset on New York's Long Island. He grew up first in Flushing, Queens in the shadow of Shea Stadium, and then in Jericho (also on Long Island), where he stayed until adulthood. Back in his first grade days, approximately 1974, he was bitten by the comic book bug. By sixth grade he was bringing backpacks full of comic books to school to sell and trade. He remained active in comics until he went away to college. After graduating and establishing a thriving legal practice in the nation's capital, his childhood passion re-emerged in a serious way, leading him to launch his company, EsquireComics.com online at www.EsquireComics.com." 

Published Works
Review of Joshua M. Greene's "On The Judicial Front Lines In Post-World War II Germany: A Review of Justice At Dachau: The Trials Of An American Prosecutor," FindLaw, April 4, 2003:


 * "Zaid is also the co-editor of Litigation Under the Federal Open Government Laws 2002, and of a forthcoming book ["The GI's Rabbi: World War II Letters of David Max Eichhorn"] to be published in 2004 by the University Press of Kansas on his grandfather, Chaplain David Max Eichhorn. Eichhorn led the first Jewish religious services at the Dachau concentration camp upon its liberation by American forces in 1945."

Contact Information
Mark S. Zaid, Esq. ESQUIRECOMICS.COM P.O. Box 342-492 Bethesda, MD 20827-2492 Phone: 202 498-0011 Website: http://www.esquirecomics.com/

Related SourceWatch Resources

 * Able Danger
 * Sibel Edmonds
 * Swiftboating John Murtha
 * War Crimes Against the Civilians of Iraq

Profiles

 * Mark Zaid in the Wikipedia.
 * Profile: Mark S. Zaid, Namebase.org.

Articles & Commentary

 * "Servicemen Sue US Government Over Anthrax Vaccine Program," Bloomberg (National Gulf War Resource Center), December 18, 2003.
 * Mark S. Zaid, "FBI Whistleblower Challenges Government's Excessive Classification of Inspector General Report," 911 Visibility Project, September 22, 2004.
 * "Defense Department Embarks On Dissinformation Campaign Concerning Anthrax Vaccination Program. Involuntary Vaccinations Must Stop For A Minimum Of Three To Four Months In Order For The Government To Comply With Court Order," AVIP/avip2001.net, November 11, 2004.
 * "Comics As History: Mark Zaid," The Main Event, May 6, 2005.
 * "Able Danger Conference Call: Mark Zaid, Attorney for Lt. Col. Anthony Shaffer," Decision '08, February 20, 2006.
 * "New court filing by Mark Zaid," Able Danger Blog, May 31, 2006.
 * "Marine Murder Probe Intensifies. Bush Vows 'Punishment' If Soldiers Broke Law, Murdered Civilians In Haditha," Associated Press/CBS News, May 31, 2006.
 * Gail Gibson, "NSA says it's too secret to be sued. State secrets doctrine almost always wins," Baltimore Sun, July 11, 2006.
 * "Marine in Haditha Case Accuses Congressman," Associated Press (Washington Post), August 2, 2006.
 * Paul von Zielbauer, "At Least 5 Marines Are Expected to Be Charged in Haditha Deaths," New York Times, December 6, 2006.
 * Gidget Fuentes, "Lawyer warns against politicizing Haditha", MarineCorps Times, February 20, 2007.
 * "Family of accused Marine launches Web site", MarineCorps Times, February 26, 2007. (This is an Associated Press story).