In the last three weeks, two events have occurred that have dealt what should have been a knockout blow to the Military Commissions at Guantánamo, the system of trials for "terror suspects" outside of the US court system and the US military's own judicial...
Pas d’Argent, Pas de Suisse
The old saying, "No money, no Swiss," dates to the early days of the state, but it is no less relevant today than it was 500 years ago. Money is the lifeblood of militaries now just as it was then. In case anyone hasn't noticed, the United States is...
Israeli Bestseller Breaks National Taboo
No one is more surprised than Shlomo Sand that his latest academic work has spent 19 weeks on Israel's bestseller list and that success has come to the history professor despite his book challenging Israel's biggest taboo. Dr. Sand argues that the idea of a...
From Guantánamo to the United States
In an extraordinary and unprecedented ruling in a US District Court, Judge Ricardo Urbina has ruled that 17 wrongly imprisoned Chinese Muslims at Guantánamo must be allowed entry to the United States. It is, as the media has been reporting, the first time that a US...
Thursday: 26 Iraqis Killed; 35 Wounded
Updated at 11:31 p.m. EDT, Oct. 9, 2009At least 26 Iraqis were killed and 35 more were wounded in small but numerous attacks. Three Iranian pilgrims were also wounded, as they were traveling to Najaf. No Coalition deaths were reported. Meanwhile, a U.S. commander in...
Good Morning, Ehud!
In colloquial Israeli Hebrew, when someone discovers something that everybody else already knows, we say: "Good morning, Elijahu!" Why Elijahu? I don't know. Now one could say: "Good morning, Ehud!" That's what I said to myself when I read the...
Two 50-Year-Olds Released From Guantánamo
As the U.S. courts put pressure on the government to justify the long detention of prisoners at Guantánamo without charge or trial (following the Supreme Court's ruling, in June, that they have constitutional habeas corpus rights, and that the government must...
Have No Illusions
I have to admit once being not enamored of, but hopeful about the candidacy of Barack Obama. In "The Year of the Insurgents," I underlined why I thought the conventional wisdom about this election year was dead wrong, and I was right about that. But what I wasn't...
Pakistan ‘Greatest Single Challenge’ to Next President
Calling Pakistan the "greatest single challenge" to the next U.S. administration, a bipartisan group of South Asia experts recommends cutting aid to the Pakistani army unless it commits itself to the counter-insurgency struggle against the Taliban and...
Judge Orders Release of Uighurs at Guantanamo
U.S. human rights and civil rights groups lauded a federal court decision Tuesday that orders the release of 17 Muslim minority Chinese men who have been held without charges for seven years at the infamous U.S. military detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. But...


