Posts Tagged ‘War on Terror’
Poll: Most Americans Against Closing Gitmo; Dems Fund Wars, IMF, Not Gitmo Closing
Two-thirds of Americans are against closing the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba with even more rejecting the idea of relocating its detainees to U.S. prisons. Read the rest of this entry »
Eavesdropping Case Tests Obama Vows on Secrecy
by William Fisher
1 Jun 09 | IPS
Despite President Barack Obama’s formation of a new task force to review government secrecy, and an ongoing investigation into use of the so-called “state secrets doctrine”, lawyers for the new administration refused last week to disclose information on the government’s use of warrantless wiretaps and backed legislation to block the release of photos of prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan. Read the rest of this entry »
Petraeus: U.S. Violated Geneva Conventions
29 May 09 | Raw Story
The head of the U.S. Central Command, General David Petraeus, said Friday that the U.S. had violated the Geneva Conventions in a stunning admission from President Bush’s onetime top general in Iraq that the U.S. may have violated international law.
Backlash Grows Against Obama’s Preventive Detention Proposal
by Glenn Greenwald
25 May 09 | Salon
The backlash against President Obama’s extraordinary proposal for indefinite “preventive detention” — already widespread in the immediate aftermath of his speech — continues to grow. Read the rest of this entry »
President Obama Defends Guantánamo Closure, But Endorses Indefinite Preventive Detention
22 May 09 | AI
In a major speech on national security on 21 May 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama restated his commitment to closing the Guantánamo detention facility and to ending the use of the so-called “enhanced interrogation techniques” approved under the previous U.S. administration. Read the rest of this entry »
CCR Guantánamo Attorneys Comment After President’s Speech
21 May 09 | CCR
Center for Constitutional Rights President Michael Ratner and Managing Attorney for CCR’s Guantanamo project Shayana Kadidal responded with disappointment to President Obama’s speech this morning. CCR represents the detainees at Guantánamo and is part of the key FOIA lawsuit surrounding the torture photo disclosures. Read the rest of this entry »
Unexceptional Americans: Why We Can’t See the Trees or the Forest
by Noam Chomsky
20 May 09 | LAW
The Torture Memos and Historical Amnesia
The torture memos released by the White House elicited shock, indignation, and surprise. The shock and indignation are understandable. The surprise, less so. Read the rest of this entry »
Judge Says U.S. Can Hold Detainees Indefinitely
20 May 09 | Raw Story
A Bush appointed judge ruled late Tuesday night that the United States can hold detainees for an indefinite period. Read the rest of this entry »
Senate Democrats Reject Funding to Close Gitmo
Barack Obama’s controversial decision to shut down Guantanamo Bay made headlines around the world. But while most Democrats initially supported the plan, now theyre refusing to finance the move. (2:50):
Supreme Court Tosses Former Detainee’s Lawsuit
The justices rule that Javaid Iqbal, a Pakistani Muslim arrested after Sept. 11, may not sue former Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III for abuses he says he suffered. Read the rest of this entry »
Death From Above, Outrage Down Below
by David Kilcullen and Andrew McDonald Exum
17 May 09 | NYT
It would be in our best interests, and those of the Pakistani people, to declare a moratorium on drone strikes into Pakistan.
Imagine, for example, that burglars move into a neighborhood. If the police were to start blowing up people’s houses from the air, would this convince homeowners to rise up against the burglars? Wouldn’t it be more likely to turn the whole population against the police? And if their neighbors wanted to turn the burglars in, how would they do that, exactly? Yet this is the same basic logic underlying the drone war.
Afghan Civilian Deaths: Who is to Blame?
Analysis by Laura King
17 May 09 | LAT
Commanders and villagers give conflicting accounts of the attack that Afghan officials say killed 140 civilians, two-thirds of them children and teenagers, in what may prove the most lethal episode of civilian casualties since the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 — a toll disputed by the U.S. But injured girls make clear the costs for two families.
U.S. Drone Strike in North Waziristan Kills 40
16 May 09 | AWC News
Missiles attacked village religious school. Read the rest of this entry »
The Impotent President
by Paul Craig Roberts
15 May 09 | Counterpunch
Who runs America?
What do you suppose it is like to be elected president of the United States only to find that your power is restricted to the service of powerful interest groups? Read the rest of this entry »
Boy Scouts Train in Post-9/11 Law Enforcement Methods
14 May 09 | NYT
Ten minutes into arrant mayhem in this town near the Mexican border, and the gunman, a disgruntled Iraq war veteran, has already taken out two people, one slumped in his desk, the other covered in blood on the floor.
The responding officers — eight teenage boys and girls, the youngest 14 — face tripwire, a thin cloud of poisonous gas and loud shots — BAM! BAM! — fired from behind a flimsy wall. They move quickly, pellet guns drawn and masks affixed.
Obama’s 48-Hour Makeover
Obama’s Extra War Funding Wins House Approval
Many Democrats are wary but put aside their concerns to issue a vote of confidence in the president’s plans for military escalation in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Rights Groups Slam Obama’s Restart of Guantanamo Military Commissions
Barack Obama, the U.S. president, has said military commissions for al-Qaeda suspects held at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp will be restarted.
Rights Groups Slam President ‘Torturer Supporter’; U.N. Tells Obama to Stop Abuse
Was Tortured CIA “Ghost Prisoner” Murdered?
by Andy Worthington
13 May 09 | AlterNet
The suspicious death of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, who was tortured into lying about an Iraq-al Qaeda connection, raises a series of troubling questions. Read the rest of this entry »
Libyan Whose “Confession” Facilitated Iraq War Dead
13 May 09 | PTV
The United States says it is probing into the suspected suicide of a former Guantanamo detainee and alleged al-Qaeda operative in a Libyan prison.
Obama Threatens the U.K. to Keep Torture Evidence Concealed
by Glenn Greenwald
12 May 09 | Salon
Ever since he was released from Guantanamo in February after six years of due-process-less detention and brutal torture, Binyam Mohamed has been attempting to obtain justice for what was done to him. Read the rest of this entry »
I Want You (Not to Go Crazy in the U.S. Army)!
An American Army sergeant has been charged with murder and aggravated assault in the fatal shooting of five fellow soldiers at a combat stress clinic at a Baghdad army base, an American official said Tuesday. Read the rest of this entry »
Lawmakers Try to Block New Abuse Photos
by William Fisher
11 May 09 | IPS
Civil libertarians are condemning a call by two influential U.S. senators for the White House to block the impending release of photographs showing detainees being abused by U.S. military personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at other U.S. detention facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere. Read the rest of this entry »
U.S. Accused of Illegal White Phosphorus Attack in Afghanistan
10 May 09 | Raw Story
United States forces in Afghanistan are accused of illegally deploying white phosphorus against civilians following a firefight with Taliban militants, according to published reports. Read the rest of this entry »
