Friday it was revealed that terrorists being held at Guantanamo Bay had been using papers and envelopes stamped with "privileged attorney-client material" had been used to orchestrate three suicides at the camp and other assorted plots.

In the cell of one of the detainees who died, the authorities said, investigators found a handwritten message from another prisoner on paper marked "privileged attorney-client material."

Several other notes said to be relevant to the suicides were later discovered in prisoners' cells and plastic bins where detainees keep their personal possessions, according to a chronology of the investigation.

One of the notes offered guidance on knot-tying, court records said, although it is not clear whether the three detainees were aware of the instructions when they hanged themselves with torn sheets and clothing.

Because all three of the men who died had never been visited by attorneys, government lawyers said the evidence "indicated the passing of materials and messages between detainees and that some level of planning or coordination of the suicides had taken place."

In an affidavit, Harris said the evidence suggested that "the suicides may have been part of a larger plan or pact for more suicides that day or in the immediate future." He also raised the possibility that detainees' lawyers or others might have played a role in passing the notes, asking investigators to search for evidence of a plot assisted by "third parties."

This si what you get when you start treating terrorists as nothing more than common criminals. Even if you treat them according to the Geneva Conventions -- something that is ridiculous no matter how many super-legislators you have on the Supreme Court -- they don't get the equivalent of diplomatic pouches in their cells.

If you've seen "The Great Escape" or "Stalag 17" you surely remember the envelopes that the POWs had which the German guards were forbidden to seize, handle or examine -- NOT!

And then, you get the lawyers posturing.

Lawyers representing detainees at Guantanamo bridled at that suggestion. Bill Goodman, the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights, a New York group that has coordinated efforts to file habeas corpus petitions on behalf of most Guantanamo detainees, said guards were careful to check lawyers' briefcases both before and after they spent time with clients.

He and other lawyers described the government's demand for control of prisoners' possessions as an attempt to weaken their clients' cases.

Stephen Oleskey, a lawyer representing six Algerians, said written communication was critical to defending detainees.

Two words: Lynne Stewart.