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,” [...]
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 [...]
A U.S. District Court judge had sharp words for the Obama administration and the Justice Department over its handling of a habeas corpus case that the judge said was “riddled with holes” and accused the government of “dragging [the case] out for no good reason” once it became clear that it “fell apart.” During a [...]
George W. Bush justified his warrantless wiretapping by relying on Justice Department attorney John Yoo’s theories of unlimited presidential wartime powers, and started the spying operation even before Yoo issued a formal opinion, a government investigation discovered. Essentially, President Bush took it upon himself to ignore the clear requirement of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance [...]
Lawmakers and human rights advocates are questioning the assertion by the administration of President Barack Obama that Guantanamo terror suspects could be imprisoned indefinitely even if they are found not guilty by a U.S. court. That assertion was made at a congressional hearing this week by Jeh Johnson, the Defense Department’s chief lawyer. He said [...]
The Department of Defense released redacted documents Thursday related to abuse and torture of detainees held in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay and other overseas prisons. The 12 documents were released as part of the American Civil Liberties Union’s long-running Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the government. The Obama administration agreed to reprocess the [...]
A new report documenting the torture of more than two-dozen former prisoners held at Bagram Airbase in Afghanistan between 2002 and 2008 comes several months after a bipartisan congressional committee linked the murder of two detainees held at the same prison facility to policies enacted by George W. Bush and ex-Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. [...]
