William Fisher

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear what will almost certainly be one of the landmark cases of the past 50 years. Its decision will determine whether the Supreme Court will continue to assert its authority to review and check the executive’s power to detain and try individuals caught up in the "war on terror." … Continue reading “High Court Hears Historic Case on Detainees”

Foreign policy, legal, and human rights authorities are raising serious questions about the credibility of the U.S. State Department’s annual report on human rights, released last week. Noah S. Leavitt, an attorney who has worked with the International Law Commission of the United Nations in Geneva and the International Court of Justice in The Hague, … Continue reading “US Abuses, Sense of Irony Missing in Rights Report”

Legal, diplomatic, religious, and human rights authorities are struggling to be heard on what many consider to be the "Son of Guantánamo" – a secret prison in Afghanistan where the U.S. military is said to have been holding some 500 "enemy combatants" for as long as three or four years without access to lawyers. The … Continue reading “Bagram: Son of Guantánamo”

A senior U.S. military commander has branded as "propaganda" a new report from a major human rights group revealing that of the 98 detainees who have died in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan since August 2002, 34 are suspected or confirmed homicides. The group, Human Rights First (HRF), adds that another 11 cases suggest … Continue reading “Top US General Dismisses Grim Abuse Report”

Last June, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters, "If you think of the people down there [at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba], these are people, all of whom were captured on a battlefield. They’re terrorists, trainers, bomb-makers, recruiters, financiers, [Osama bin Laden’s] bodyguards, would-be suicide bombers, probably the 20th 9/11 hijacker." Yet two recent reports, based … Continue reading “Reports Find Tenuous Terror Ties at Guantanamo”

Find illegal activity in the U.S. national security agency you work for. Report it to your superiors. Get rewarded by being demoted or having your security clearance revoked – tantamount to losing your career – while those whose conduct you’ve reported get promoted. This was the picture painted to a House of Representatives committee last … Continue reading “At Spy Agencies, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished”

Foreign policy and human rights experts appear to agree with a United Nations report calling on Washington to shut down its detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, but most believe that simply closing it misses a larger point: What to do with the prisoners? And many of those interviewed by IPS are fearful that the … Continue reading “UN Report Fuels Debate Over Guantanamo”

With the billions of dollars appropriated by the United States for Iraqi reconstruction almost spent, Japan, Australia and other nations in U.S. President George W. Bush’s "coalition of the willing" are likely to be asked to shoulder much of the burden for funding the large number of unfinished projects. Getting others to take up the … Continue reading “Bush’s New Multilateralism”

The limits of U.S. presidential power emerged as a central issue in the Senate confirmation hearings for Samuel A. Alito to become a new associate justice on the Supreme Court – even as President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney continued to vigorously defend their use of secret electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens. … Continue reading “Bush Nominee Probed on Executive Powers”

Amid undenied charges that the Pentagon is paying Iraqi journalists to write "good news" stories about the country’s progress, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced a new international exchange program for journalists named for famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and emphasizing "the democratic principles that guided Mr. Murrow’s practice of his craft – … Continue reading “The Freest Press Money Can Buy?”