War on Terror

Bryant Neal Vinas: American Offered To Be Al Qaeda Suicide Bomber: Document

cnn.com | Posted 08.23.2009 | New York

Read More: Al Qaeda Suicide Bomber, Al Qaeda, Terrorism, United States, Bryant Neal Vinas, Suicide Bomber, Terror Suspects, War on Terror, New York News

A New York man who pleaded guilty in January to charges of aiding al Qaeda was ready to be a suicide bomber for the organization, but was told he nee...

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Their Own Private Guantanamo: The Obama Administration Struggles To Craft A Legal Framework For Detaining Suspected Terrorists

ProPublica | Posted 08.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Suspected Terrorists, Gitmo, Terrorists, Terrorism, Obama Administration, Terror Detainees, War on Terror, Politics News

As the Obama administration and Congress try to forge a legal framework for detaining suspected terrorists, they might want to take a close look at wh...

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Taliban Video Shows Captive US soldier: AP sources

AP | PAMELA HESS and LOLITA BALDOR | Posted 08.18.2009 | World

Read More: American Soldiers, Taliban, War in Afghanistan, Defense Department, War on Terror, US Soldiers, World News

WASHINGTON — The American soldier who went missing June 30 from his base in eastern Afghanistan and was later confirmed to have been captured, a...

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US May Create Terror Interrogation Unit, Looking Into Alternative Interrogation Techniques: Official

AP | DEVLIN BARRETT | Posted 08.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Terror Interrogation Unit, US Terrorism List, Terror Interrogation, Terror, Harsh Interrorgation, Cia, Terrorism, President Obama, War on Terror, Gitmo, Torture, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration is considering creating a special unit of professional interrogators to handle key terror suspects, focusi...

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Predictable Chaos as Guantanamo Trials Resume

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: War on Terror, Cmdr. Suzanne Lachelier, Ramzi Bin Al-Shibh, David Hicks, President Obama, 9/11, Guantanamo, Omar Khadr, World News, Politics News, Ali Abdul Aziz Ali, Lt. Rich Federico, Col. Morris Davis, Ali Hamza Al-Bahlul, Guantanamo Bay, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, World, Human Rights First, Walid Bin Attash, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Senate Armed Services Committee, CIA Torture, Mohammed Kamin, Salim Hamdan, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Military Commissions, Osama Bin Laden, Capt. John Murphy, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Federal Court, Mustafa Al-Hawsawi, Politics News
Andy Worthington

With no visible progress this was another dismal outing for the Commissions, and another warning for the Obama administration that any kind of revival of the wretched trial system will remain fraught with insoluble problems.

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War Crimes in Afghanistan, Or: What You Don't Learn in Science Class

Amnesty International | Posted 08.17.2009 | World

Read More: Physicians for Human Rights, Amnesty International, Human Rights, Afghanistan, War on Terror, World News
Amnesty International

This week, Physicians for Human Rights, using forensic analysis and satellite imagery, documented a war crime -- and the subsequent U.S. supported cover-up -- in Afghanistan.

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CIA Supervisor Claimed He Used Fire Ants On Detainee

Aram Roston | Posted 08.16.2009 | Politics

Read More: Enhanced Interrogations, CIA Torture, War on Terror, Cia, George W. Bush, Politics News
Aram Roston

A recently released legal memo describing interrogation techniques showed that Bush Administration lawyers had approved the use of "insects" in interrogations.

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Preventive Detention, at What Cost?

Shahid Buttar | Posted 08.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Guantanamo, Preventive Detention, Civil Liberties, War on Terror, Constitution, Guantanamo Detainees, Due Process, Cointelpro, Politics News
Shahid Buttar

Whether called "preventive", "indefinite" or "prolonged," prevention detention schemes are essentially lawless, unconstitutional and un-American. At its root, detention without trial threatens democracy.

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Former Insider Shatters Credibility of Military Commissions

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Preventive Detention, Mohamed Jawad, David Kris, Department of Defense, War on Terror, Harsh Interrogations, President Obama, Guantanamo, Obama Administration, John Hutson, World News, Dick Cheney, Habeas Corpus, Politics News, Sen. Carl Levin, Robert Gates, Jeh Johnson, National Security, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, World, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Senate Armed Services Committee, Susan Crawford, David Addington, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Military Commissions, House Committee on the Judiciary, Lt. Col. Darrel Vandeveld, Capt. John Murphy, George Toscas, Federal Court, Brig. Gen. Thomas Hartmann, Torture, Politics News
Andy Worthington

Lt. Col. Vandeveld said, "I simply could not in good conscience continue to work for an ad-hoc, hastily created apparatus whose evident resort to expediency and ethical compromise were so contrary to my own."

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Will US Seek Death Penalty in First Trial of Former Gitmo Detainee?

Amnesty International | Posted 08.09.2009 | World

Read More: Guantanamo, Trial, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, Death Penalty, War on Terror, Military Commissions, World News
Amnesty International

Last month, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani became the first Guantanamo Bay detainee to be brought to the United States for trial outside of the military commission system.

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Military Commissions: Government Flounders, As Admiral Hutson Nails Problems

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Geneva Conventions, Preventive Detention, Department of Defense, David Kris, World, War on Terror, Terrorism, Lt. Cmdr. Charles Swift, President Obama, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Senate Armed Services Committee, US District Court, Justice Department, John Hutson, Barack Obama, World News, Military Commissions, Politics News, Enemy Combatants, Jeh Johnson, National Security, Col. Morris Davis, Guantanamo Bay, Federal Court, William J. Haynes II, Politics News
Andy Worthington

A legal quagmire that lacks legitimacy and maintains key policies of the Bush administration's "War on Terror" is almost too awful to contemplate.

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Afghanistan's Karzai - Pretty Much Loathed but Pretty Much Re-elected

Virginia M. Moncrieff | Posted 08.06.2009 | World

Read More: Hamid Karzai, Mike Tyson, NATO Afghanistan, Ashraf Ghani, War on Terror, Afghanistan, Nato, Hamid Karzai US Criticism, Afghan-Warlords, James Carville, Taliban, Afghan Taliban, Barack Obama, Afghanistan War, World News
Virginia M. Moncrieff

Karzai has shown great political wile in the past year, sugaring up policies, revving up his campaign, maneuvering like a man possessed: he is determined to keep the presidency.

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Taliban Buys Children To Serve As Suicide Bombers: Report

Washington Times | Click the Photo to Enlarge. | Posted 08.02.2009 | World

Read More: Taliban Buys Children, Taliban, Kidnapping, War on Terror, Suicide Bombers, Pakistan Taliban, Pakistan, World News

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Taliban Buys Children To Serve As Suicide Bombers: Report

Washington Times | Click the Photo to Enlarge. | Posted 08.02.2009 | World

Read More: Taliban Buys Children, Taliban, Kidnapping, War on Terror, Suicide Bombers, Pakistan Taliban, Pakistan, World News

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Release of the "Holy Grail" of Torture Reports Delayed Again

Andy Worthington | Posted 08.01.2009 | Politics

Read More: Aclu, Sere, Cia Inspector General Report, ACLU Accountability for Torture, War on Terror, Harsh Interrogations, Terrorism, President Obama, Abu Zubaydah, Fbi, CIA Torture, Justice Department, Barack Obama, Office of Legal Counsel, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, Cia, Steven G. Bradbury, Breaking Politics News, Waterboarding, ACLU Torture, The Guantanamo Files, Cia Torture Memos, CIA Inspector General, Torture Memos, Torture, Politics News
Andy Worthington

Today was supposed to be the day that the Justice Department -- after two delays -- released an unclassified version of the CIA Inspector General's 2004 Report into the interrogations of "high-value detainees."

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Supreme Court Will Not Hear 9/11 Victims Claims Vs. Saudi Arabia

AP | Posted 07.30.2009 | Politics

Read More: Federal Insurance Co. v. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Pentagon, President Barack Obama, Terrorism, 9/11, King Abdullah, Obama, Saudi Arabia, War on Terror, September 11, Terror, Al Qaeda, Supreme Court, World Trade Center, Politics News

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court has refused to allow victims of the Sept. 11 attacks to pursue lawsuits against Saudi Arabia and four of its prin...

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Iraqi Prime Minister Calls For Unity

AP | PATRICK QUINN | Posted 07.28.2009 | World

Read More: Iraq War, War, Nouri Al-Maliki, Unity in Iraq, Baghdad, Iraq, Iraqi Prime Minister, War on Terror, World News

BAGHDAD — Iraq's prime minister said Saturday that the full withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from cities and towns was a message that his countr...

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US Announces Shift In Afghanistan Drug Policy

AP | NICOLE WINFIELD | Posted 07.28.2009 | World

Read More: Afghanistan Drug Policy, Barack Obama, Afghanistan, US Foreign Policy, Drugs, American Foreign Policy, War on Terror, Foreign Policy, World News

TRIESTE, Italy — The U.S. is shifting its strategy against Afghanistan's drug trade, phasing out funding for opium eradication while boosting ef...

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Torture, Healing and Accountability

Allen Keller | Posted 07.27.2009 | Politics

Read More: Human Rights, War on Terror, Torture, Guantanamo, Abu Ghraib, Politics News
Allen Keller

We owe torture survivors, and we owe ourselves truth and accountability.

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Finding Spirituality and Solidarity in the Interfaith Community

Stephen Rohde | Posted 07.26.2009 | Living

Read More: Religion, Human Rights, War on Terror, Pluralism, Interfaith, Religious Tolerance, September 11th, Torture, Living News
Stephen Rohde

I had not expected to be so touched by the outpouring of spiritual faith in peace and justice and the rejection of war and violence.

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Judge Orders Release from Guantanamo of Al-Qaeda Torture Victim

Andy Worthington | Posted 07.25.2009 | World

Read More: Supreme Court, World, War on Terror, Terrorism, President Obama, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Alla Ali Bin Ali Ahmed, Taliban, US District Court, Justice Department, Abdul Rahim Janko, Barack Obama, Eric Holder, World News, Dick Cheney, Al Qaeda, Habeas Corpus, Politics News, Judge Richard Leon, Sami Al-Haj, Habeas Corpus Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, Seton Hall Law School, Abdul Rahim Al-Ginco, Adel Hamad, The Guantanamo Files, Judge Gladys Kessler, Syria, Torture, Advocacy, World News
Andy Worthington

In over three years of researching and reporting about the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, I learned that many of the men were "Mickey Mouse" prisoners, with no connection to terrorism whatsoever.

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Jason Linkins

AP Uses The Word 'Torture!' (And The Rest Of Your Scritti Politti)

HuffingtonPost.com | Jason Linkins | Posted 07.24.2009 | Media

Read More: Gitmo, Twitter, Media Criticism, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Media Obsessions, War on Terror, Yahoo, Media News

So a federal judge has ordered the release of GITMO detainee Abd al Rahim Abdul Rassak, mainly because before he became a prisoner of the United State...

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Al Janko: Judge Orders Release Of Syrian Guantanamo Detainee

The Washington Post | Posted 07.23.2009 | Politics

Read More: Abdulrahim Abdul Razak Al Janko, Afghanistan, Terrorism, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Guantanamo Bay, War on Terror, Syria, Gitmo, Al Qaeda, Politics News

A federal judge today ordered the release of a 30-year-old detainee from the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying the government's leg...

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Open Letter to Robert Kagan

Matthew Duss | Posted 07.18.2009 | Media

Read More: Iran, Neoconservatives, Iraq, War on Terror, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Robert Kagan, Media News
Matthew Duss

You can't actually believe that Obama is "siding with the Iranian regime" against the Iranian people, or that his outreach to Iran depends upon keeping hardliners in power, can you?

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CIA May Be Protecting Cheney With Blocked Report

The Plumline | Posted 07.18.2009 | Politics

Read More: Afghanistan War, Guantanamo Detainees, Guantanamo, Washington Post, War on Terror, Gitmo, Abu Ghraib, Cia, Iraq War, Dick Cheney, Enhanced Interrogations, Marcy Wheeler, Cia-Inspector-General-Report, Torture, Politics News

On Friday, there may be a major development in the torture wars: The CIA is set to release portions of a 2004 report that reportedly found no proof th...

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