Why US and NATO Fed Detainees to Afghan Torture System
Starting in late 2005, U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan began turning detainees over to the Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS), despite its well-known reputation for torture. Interviews with former U.S. and NATO diplomats and other evidence now available...
UN Recognition of Palestinians Still Far Off
UNITED NATIONS - Despite massive support from the international community, the Palestinian quest for recognition as an independent and sovereign nation is unlikely to materialize soon, say political observers and diplomats here. "That is not going to happen," an...
Washington Failing to Understand Iran’s Opposition
WASHINGTON - The popular uprisings that have brought turmoil to Arab countries across the Middle East and North Africa have also underscored Washington's dearth of knowledge about forces on the ground in authoritarian states in the Middle East. One of the largest...
Don’t Expand the Military’s Antiterrorism Role
The WikiLeaks documents released on Guantanamo prisoners indicate appalling military incompetence in haphazardly patching together sketchy and contradictory information that has allowed many high-risk terror suspects to go free, while low-risk or innocent detainees...
The Partisan Temptation
It always seems like the presidential horse race starts earlier than in the previous election season: no sooner is our quadrennial agony over then the pundits start placing their bets on a fresh crop of colts, calculating the odds. This sped-up process is due to the...
Tuesday: 5 Iraqis Killed, 68 Wounded
At least five Iraqis were killed and 68 were wounded in new attacks and protest violence. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki accused fellow politicians of ordering a few recent assassinations. Also, the push to keep U.S. troops in Iraq beyond their year-end...
Rolling the Dice in Libya
President Barack Obama won the Democratic nomination in 2008 partly by reminding the party’s base of his early, prescient criticisms of the ill-fated decision to invade Iraq. “What I am opposed to is a dumb war … a rash war,” then-Senator Obama explained in 2002....
Fair Trial for Manning Now Impossible
The credibility of the military justice system is being undermined by the prosecution of Bradley Manning. His abusive punishment without trial violates his due process rights, his harsh treatment in solitary confinement violates the prohibition against cruel and...