Tag: war on terror

Guantánamo Deaths in 2006 Won’t Go Away

A leading good-government group is asking the U.S. Justice Department to disclose details of its investigation into the deaths of three Guantánamo prisoners in 2006. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) Wednesday sent a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the Justice Department seeking information about the Criminal Division’s handling of allegations … Continue reading “Guantánamo Deaths in 2006 Won’t Go Away”

UN Expert Calls On US To Halt CIA Targeted Killings

Targeted killings, including those using drones, are increasingly being applied in ways that violate international law, according to a report issued Wednesday by a United Nations expert on extrajudicial killings. The report by special rapporteur Philip Alston will be presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Thursday. It says that while targeted … Continue reading “UN Expert Calls On US To Halt CIA Targeted Killings”

House Kills Plan to Close Guantánamo

President Obama’s hopes of closing Guantánamo, which were already gravely wounded by his inability to meet his self-imposed deadline of a year for the prison’s closure, now appear to have been killed off by lawmakers in Congress. Although the House Armed Services Committee was happy to authorize, by 59 votes to 0, a budget of … Continue reading “House Kills Plan to Close Guantánamo”

Court: Govt Can’t Shut Down Charities Without Warrant

In a major decision overturning a George W. Bush-era policy that has been continued by the administration of President Barack Obama, a federal court ruled that the U.S. Treasury Department cannot freeze a charity’s assets without a warrant, and must also give access to any classified evidence before effectively shutting the group down. That’s what … Continue reading “Court: Govt Can’t Shut Down Charities Without Warrant”

Aborted Bomb Plot Tests US-Pakistan Ties

Amid mounting evidence that Saturday’s aborted car-bombing in New York’s Times Square was linked to violent Islamist groups in Pakistan, observers here are expressing concern that recently enhanced cooperation between Washington and Islamabad could be negatively affected. Thus far, the two governments appear to be cooperating well in investigating the activities of the alleged terrorist … Continue reading “Aborted Bomb Plot Tests US-Pakistan Ties”

Muslim Blowback?

It is hard to overstate just how deeply unpopular the United States is in the Muslim world. A 2008 poll of six majority Muslim countries found that overwhelmingly large portions of the population, ranging from 71 percent in Morocco to 87 percent in Egypt, held unfavorable opinions of the United States. A 2009 poll in Pakistan revealed that … Continue reading “Muslim Blowback?”

Judge Rules Yemeni’s Detention at Guantánamo Based Solely on Torture

On Feb. 24, as I reported in "The Black Hole of Guantánamo," Judge Henry H. Kennedy Jr. granted the habeas corpus petition of Uthman Abdul Rahim Mohammed Uthman, a Yemeni who was seized crossing the border from Afghanistan to Pakistan in December 2001. In the absence of the judge’s unclassified opinion explaining why he had … Continue reading “Judge Rules Yemeni’s Detention at Guantánamo Based Solely on Torture”