Defense Secretary Robert Gates has tapped his chief legal adviser and a four-star Army general to lead a landmark study on how the U.S. military would lift its ban on openly gay service members.
Human rights activists and legal experts reacted swiftly today to disclosures that the U.S. Government is planning to introduce new measures they claim would give inmates at Afghanistan’s notorious Bagram prison more opportunities to challenge their detention.
Their views range from cautious optimism to total condemnation.
There are some 600-plus prisoners being held at the U.S. military [...]
President Obama can’t be expected to personally vet every military officer who is up for promotion, and, for all but those in the highest ranks, would obviously just rely on the recommendations of the superiors of officers on the promotions lists, but I have to wonder how the president would feel about having rubber stamped the promotion of an officer who said that blacks were better off as slaves.
The American Civil Liberties Union called upon the U.S. Supreme Court this week to deny a petition the Obama administration filed in August that urged justices to review and reverse a lower court’s decision ordering the government to release more than four-dozen photos depicting U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan abusing prisoners.
As 13 prisoners held at the U.S. naval Base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, appeared set to finally win their freedom, others are asking their release to be deferred. The problem is that some of those cleared for release fear they will be tortured if they are transferred to other countries, in some cases their home countries.
On Aug. 28, in the first indication that European countries are prepared to help the Obama administration fulfill its promise to close Guantánamo by accepting prisoners who have been cleared for release, but who cannot be repatriated because of fears that they will face torture on their return, the Portuguese interior ministry announced that two [...]
Three of the country’s former top counterterrorism interrogators and intelligence experts, are speaking out publicly in support of a wide-ranging criminal investigation into the Bush administration’s use of torture against “war on terror” detainees, and have also urged Congress to launch a separate probe to review how the policies that lead to torture were created.
President Barack Obama sent a letter July 29 to Senators Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham informing them that he would work with Congress to ensure legislation is passed that would block the release of any photographs and videos depicting U.S. Soldiers abusing detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan captured after 9/11.
Gordon Klingenschmitt is a far-right Christian fundamentalist who claims he sacrificed his 16-year career in the military and a million dollar pension because he was targeted for praying publicly in Jesus’ name while serving as a chaplain in the U.S. Navy.
Klingenschmitt, who now runs a Colorado Spings-based nonprofit, “The Pray in Jesus Name Project,” is [...]
The Justice Department suffered stinging defeats this week when federal judges ordered the release of two more Guantanamo prisoners – Kuwaiti Khaled Al Mutairi and Afghan national Mohammed Jawad. All told, the government has now failed to convince federal judges in 27 of 32 cases that the government can justify the detentions of Guantanamo Bay [...]
