Laura Milligan posts this list of top foreign policy blogs. Though there are a couple very good ones she leaves out (Long War Journal, Jeffrey Goldberg, ThreatsWatch, and the Georgetown Security Law Brief spring to mind), it's an excellent list – not a bad choice among them. See especially #41.
The New York Times reports that a list of terrorism suspects released today by the Saudi government includes eleven former Guantanamo detainees who passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program after their release. There’ve been a number of similar articles throughout the last month, and, indeed, starting in 2004. The struggles of the Saudi rehabilitation program […]
It's no secret that various terrorist groups have gotten significant support from Pakistan – either from elements of InterServices Intelligence or from private actors in the country. In the last year, ISI has been implicated in aiding an attack on the Indian consulate in Kabul, and Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, the alleged perpetrators of the Mumbai attack, allegedly […]
Congressional Research Services – Congress’ think tank – has a significant report out discussing the legal issues associated with President Obama's executive order closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay (link available here). The report constitutes the most comprehensive publicly available treatment of the issues surrounding Gitmo closure yet offered by the United States government, […]
A justice at the military court in Guantanamo Bay moved against an executive order issued by U.S. President Barack Obama to delay tribunals there for 120 days. Judge James Pohl denied delay requests for a case involving Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri for his role in the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole, which killed 17 […]
The first witness in war crimes trial of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga reversed his testimony hours after relaying accounts of his conscription as a child soldier. The young man told the court rebels from Lubanga's Union of Congolese Patriots nabbed him and forced him into a military camp when he was in the fifth grade, […]
Yesterday was International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the 64th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the most notorious of the Nazi extermination camps. We hope you’ll join us in taking a moment to memorialize the more than 1 million people – mostly Jews, but also Gypsies and political prisoners – who were murdered at Auschwitz and […]
The defense team for Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Tuesday said secrecy clauses made the trial inherently unfair, adding it struck a blow to the notion of transparent international justice. All but two of the 93 alleged victims of Lubanga taking part in the trial were allowed to do so under the cloak of anonymity and […]
On Monday, the ICC will begin proceedings in its first trial ever – Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo will stand trial for using child soldiers during the Congo's civil war. (As TRIAL notes, Lubanga's group, the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), is also accused of massacring civilians). The legal documents filed before in the case […]
U.S. President Barack Obama will sign a series of Executive Orders Thursday ordering the closure of the military facility at the naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba within a year. At issue is the fate of the detainees held there. Obama Wednesday in his first full day in office ordered a 120-day halt to military […]
The Washington Post Wednesday reported that U.S. President Barack Obama ordered a suspension of war crimes trials for suspected terrorists held at the naval facility at Guantanamo Bay. We may have more on this later in the day. Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, January 21, 2009; Page A02 GUANTANAMO BAY, Cuba, Jan. 20 — In […]
Amnesty International joined a chorus of voices accusing Israel of war crimes for its use of white phosphorus incendiaries over populated areas of the Gaza Strip. White phosphorus munitions are used for a variety of roles by military forces. It is commonly used as a smoke screen to mask military movements on the ground. It […]
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney leaves office next week, leaving behind a legacy of back-room deals and, more importantly, a legacy of torture. Cheney in his eight years as vice president, and a career in civil service, paved the way for warrantless surveillance of the American people. Cheney also formed a team of legal experts […]
For the moment (and not to speak for Dan), I don't have any more analysis on the Gaza incursion – my take on the purely legal aspects of the issue is here. However, for those interested in the questions about the law of armed conflict posed by the incursion, Opinio Jurislinks what is certainly the […]
Dan has two good posts addressing some of the legal criticism of the Israeli incursion into Gaza. There's been a vigorous debate on the incursion across the wonderful new array of Foreign Policy blogs; David Rothkopf summarizes his dispute with Steven Walt here. Christian Brose has a compelling piece here, too. While the writers don't […]