William Fisher

The U.S. government sought to distance itself Tuesday from an official’s statement calling the suicides of three Guantánamo Bay prisoners a “public relations move,” as human rights groups, legal experts, and newspapers in the Middle East renewed calls for the prison’s closing. Colleen Graffy, deputy assistant U.S. secretary of state for public diplomacy, told the … Continue reading “Rights Groups Call for Probe of Guantánamo Suicides”

Anticipating that the U.S. federal government would invoke the so-called “state secrets” privilege to block any lawsuit calling for the disclosure of details about allegations that phone companies shared customer records with the government’s biggest spy agency, a major civil rights group has embarked on an alternate course. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has … Continue reading “Public Hearings Sought in Phone Record Scandal”

Human rights organizations here are hailing the recommendations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture that the United States close its Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention center, cease holding detainees in secret prisons, and stop the practice of "rendering" prisoners to countries where they are likely to be tortured. The committee – a panel of 10 … Continue reading “U.S. Groups Hail Censure of Washington’s ‘Terror War’”

The U.S. government has again invoked the "state secrets" privilege, arguing that a public trial of a lawsuit against a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for abducting and imprisoning a German citizen would lead to disclosure of information harmful to U.S. national security. Once rarely used, the "state secrets" privilege has over … Continue reading “US Fights Redress for CIA Kidnapping ‘Mistake’”

U.S. President George W. Bush’s "global war on terror" has produced the unintended consequence of bringing the United States ever closer to some of the world’s most repressive regimes. Egypt provides a classic example. Last week, over the objections of the country’s human rights advocates, Egypt extended the 20-year-old "emergency" law that gives the government … Continue reading “Terror War Begets Devil’s Bargains”

News that the Pentagon will soon release about a third of the prisoners still detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, has prompted the U.S. media and many in the blogosphere to recall Defense Secretary Rumsfeld’s 2002 statement referring to Guantanamo prisoners as "the worst of the worst." And as recently as June 2005, he said, "If … Continue reading “Gitmo Releases Suggest Numerous Mistakes”

A major government watchdog group is charging that Muslim charities are being shut down for supposedly backing terrorist causes, while giant firms like Halliburton are receiving the full protection of U.S. law for allegedly breaking government sanctions against doing business with Iran – a country designated as a sponsor of terrorism. "There is unequal enforcement … Continue reading “In Terror War, Not All Names Are Equal”

As U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her team continue to face increasingly harsh criticism from Muslim communities, Amnesty International has issued a new report on one of the practices they condemn the most: rendition. The new report, "Below the Radar: Secret Flights to Torture and Disappearance," describes a U.S. covert operation in which … Continue reading “Report Details CIA’s Covert Rendition Fleet”

More than six months ago, a federal district judge ordered former U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and other senior officials to testify in a lawsuit brought by an Egyptian who claims he was beaten and starved after being arrested following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. He charged that he was violated with a flashlight while … Continue reading “Courts Scrutinize Post-9/11 Powers”

Last week’s announcement that Iraq will now have to pay for its own reconstruction has left some observers wondering whether the yet-to-be-formed government there will be up to the task. Iraq’s deputy finance minister, Kamal Field al-Basri, said it was "reasonable" for the United States to sharply cut back its reconstruction efforts after spending about … Continue reading “Iraq Left to Rebuild Itself”