Foreign Policy Blogs

Weekend Round-Up; Gitmo, Japan sex slaves, Israeli POW slayings, Iraqi Tribunals, and Sudan.

This is a brief; topics will be detailed further throughout the week.

Walid Mohammad bin Attash confesses to USS Cole attack.

Weekend Round-Up; Gitmo, Japan sex slaves, Israeli POW slayings, Iraqi Tribunals, and Sudan.The CSRT system in Guantanamo Bay has been hearing the cases of fourteen high value detainees transferred there from CIA black sites. The transcripts of Khalid Sheik Mohammed have been outlined previously here. This weekend, the Pentagon released the transcripts of Walid Mohammad bin Attash, who has confessed to playing a large role in planning the USS Cole attacks, where suicide bombers killed 17 and wounded 37 US soldiers.

AP is reporting here. The BBC is developing the story here. A link to transcripts is pending.

SCOTUS blog is also reporting on the Supreme Court reviews of Gitmo cases here.

Japanese Prime Minister denies WWII sexual slavery allegations.

Weekend Round-Up; Gitmo, Japan sex slaves, Israeli POW slayings, Iraqi Tribunals, and Sudan.The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, has denied allegations of sexual slaves serving soldiers at brothels during World War II. Abe has been on a diplomatic junket attempting to repair regional accusations of Japanese imperialism, which were reinforced by Abe's predecessors' previous actions regarding. The diplomatic junket was in coordination with discussions regarding the 1937 massacre at Nanjing, where an Allied tribunal suggested a death toll of 137,000 at the hands of the Japanese.

Reuters has details here. Details of the Nanjing massacre are here.

Egyptians protest POW massacres.

 

Weekend Round-Up; Gitmo, Japan sex slaves, Israeli POW slayings, Iraqi Tribunals, and Sudan.Egyptians continue to express disdain over allegations of the massacre of Egyptian POW's by Israeli forces during the 1967 War. Reporting here details the events. This weekend, Egyptian police broke up protests sparked by the documentary, Sprit of Shaked.

I've reported on this on March 8th.

Iraq War Crimes Trials Postponed.

Weekend Round-Up; Gitmo, Japan sex slaves, Israeli POW slayings, Iraqi Tribunals, and Sudan.War crimes prosecutions have been postponed in Iraq. A defense attorney had been ejected by judges, who claimed he had been in contempt due to a recent interview. US officials, however, have argued that press communiqué are not grounds for contempt. The trials have been adjourned until March 26th.

Forbes has details here.

Sudan halts ICC cooperation.

Weekend Round-Up; Gitmo, Japan sex slaves, Israeli POW slayings, Iraqi Tribunals, and Sudan.Sudanese officials have suspended their cooperation with the International Court. The Sudanese government in Khartoum has long denied the ICC holds jurisdiction over crimes committed there. Sudanese officials maintain the domestic court system is adequate to try offenses there, though many of the court decisions have been relatively minor charges.

I've reported on this here. The Media Line outlines this development here.

 

Author

Daniel Graeber

Daniel Graeber is a writer for United Press International covering Iraq, Afghanistan and the broader Levant. He has published works on international and constitutional law pertaining to US terrorism cases and on child soldiers. His first major work, entitled The United States and Israel: The Implications of Alignment, is featured in the text, Strategic Interests in the Middle East: Opposition or Support for US Foreign Policy. He holds a MA in Diplomacy and International Conflict Management from Norwich University, where his focus was international relations theory, international law, and the role of non-state actors.

Areas of Focus:International law; Middle East; Government and Politics; non-state actors

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