November 14, 2009 # 12:19 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Intelligence, International Law, Supreme Court # No Comment
The New York Times has instructive profiles on the four other persons that have been designated for trial in Federal District Court in the Southern District of New York. Reporter Liz Robbins writes:
Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash
Walid Muhammad Salih bin Attash, known as Khallad, has told investigators that he played many roles in Al Qaeda, from acting as a bodyguard …
November 13, 2009 # 7:26 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, International Law, Supreme Court # No Comment
The blog Main Justice reports:
Former Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey on Friday criticized the Obama administration’s decision to prosecute a group of terrorism suspects accused in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in federal court, warning of safety risks to Americans and the possibility that national security information could be aired in civilian proceedings.
His speech to the conservative Federalist Society — …
November 13, 2009 # 4:12 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Intelligence, International Law, Supreme Court # No Comment
Here is the Press Release:
Departments of Defense and Justice Announce Forum Decisions for Ten Guantanamo Bay Detainees
The Departments of Defense and Justice today announced forum decisions for ten detainees at Guantanamo Bay whose cases were previously charged in military commissions, including five detainees accused of conspiring to commit the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks and a detainee accused of orchestrating …
October 4, 2009 # 3:54 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy # No Comment
The AP reports:
The president of Somalia on Sunday denounced the recruiting of young men from Minnesota’s huge Somali community for terrorist activity in his war-ravaged homeland, and said he plans to work with the U.S. government to bring those still alive back home.President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed spoke with The Associated Press while visiting the Minneapolis area, where authorities believe …
September 26, 2009 # 1:34 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Intelligence, International Law # No Comment
With a Hat Tip to Neal Sonnett– Lyle Denniston over at SCOTUSblog brings to our attention a recently-declassified opinion by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in a detainee habeas case, Al Rabiah v. U.S. During the course of the opinion Judge Kollar-Kotelly makes it clear that the evidence supporting that the argument that Al Rabiah should be detained indefinitely was simply insufficient. …
September 16, 2009 # 3:18 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, International Law, Supreme Court # No Comment
The previous post noted the brief filed by the Obama Administration appealing the ruling of Judge John D. Bates in the Bagram detainee cases. With many thanks to SCOTUSblog, the brief can be found here. As Lyle Denniston of SCOTUSblog explains:
The Obama Administration argued strenuously on Monday that the Supreme Court’s 2008 decision providing a right for imprisoned terrorism suspects …
August 30, 2009 # 7:27 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Intelligence, International Law # One Comment
In today’s Washington Post, Professor Loch Johnson, former special assistant to the late Senator Frank Church, reminds us previous efforts to investigate allegations of wrong-doing in the intelligence community. Dr. Johnson writes:
During the first half of the Cold War, the CIA was largely free of serious congressional supervision. And despite controversies such as the U2 shoot-down over the Soviet Union, …
August 22, 2009 # 7:27 pm # Armed Conflict, Foreign Policy, Human Rights, Intelligence, International Law # No Comment
Much is being written about the soon-to-be released Inspector General’s report on the Central Intelligence Agency. Slated to be released on Monday, the report will allegedly disclose further abuses of detainees. For example, the New York Times reports:
C.I.A. jailers at different times held the handgun and the drill close to the detainee, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, threatening to harm him if …