war on terror

The Piracy Problem: Monsters vs. Aliens

In the comic books, bad guys often team up to fight the forces of good. The Masters of Evil battle the Avengers superhero team. The Joker and Scarecrow ally against Batman. Lex Luthor and Brainiac take on Superman.

And the Somali pirates, who have dominated recent headlines with their hijacking and hostage-taking, join hands with al-Qaeda to form a dynamic evil duo against the United States and our allies. We're the friendly monsters -- a big, hulking superpower with a heart of gold -- and they're the aliens from Planet Amok.

Posted in defense spending, military industrial complex, pentagon, piracy, war on terror

CIA Director Asked to Preserve Secret Prisons

NEW YORK - Lawyers for a Guantanamo detainee who claims he was held and tortured in one of the "black site" secret prisons run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is demanding that the CIA preserve cells and interrogation paraphernalia there as evidence of mistreatment.

Posted in bagram, black sites, torture, war on terror

The Bush Six to Be Indicted

Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast. Their decision is expected to be announced on Tuesday before the Spanish central criminal court, the Audencia Nacional, in Madrid.

Posted in Equality/Justice, war on terror

CIA to Close Secret Overseas Prisons, End Security Contracts

WASHINGTON - The CIA is decommissioning the secret overseas prisons where top al Qaida suspects were subjected to interrogation methods, including simulated drowning, that Attorney General Eric Holder, allied governments, the Red Cross and numerous other experts consider torture, the agency said Thursday.

Posted in torture, war on terror

Requiem for the War on Terror

This is the way the Global War on Terror (also known, in Bush-era jargon, as GWOT) ends, not with a bang, not with parades and speeches, but with an obscure memo, a few news reports, vague denials, and a seemingly off-handed comment (or was it a carefully calculated declaration?) from Secretary of State Hillary ClintonPosted in war on terror

We Betrayed the Rule of Law for 'Fool's Gold'

Our story so far:

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, hundreds of men identified as members of al Qaeda were captured and imprisoned at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. There, they were subjected to sexual humiliation, sleep deprivation, dehydration, extreme temperatures, waterboarding, being chained to the floor for hours in their own waste, and other so-called ''enhanced interrogation'' techniques even as the president was assuring the world that we don't torture because we are America and America doesn't do that sort of thing.

Posted in guantanamo, rule of law, torture, war on terror

Miss Universe’s Excellent Adventure

"A crown is merely a hat that lets the rain in." That was Frederick the Great of Prussia's take on the pain of being royalty.

Just ask Queen Elizabeth II and Michelle Obama. When they briefly touched one another at Buckingham Palace Thursday, a moment of contact that was more gentle pat than hug, you would have thought the First Lady had challenged Her Royal Highness to pistols at 20 paces. What a breach of protocol!

Posted in guantanamo, torture, war on terror

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 3, 2009
11:16 AM

CONTACT: Amnesty International - USA

AIUSA media office, 202-544-0200 x302, lspann@aiusa.org

Amnesty Int'l Activists to Urge Their US Representatives and Senators to Fully Investigate Past Abuses in War on Terror

Human Rights Activists Organizing In-district Meetings from April 6-17 Across the United States

WASHINGTON - April 3 - Amnesty International members and other activists will be meeting with their U.S. representatives and senators from April 6-17 to urge Congress to fully investigate the U.S. government's abuses in the war on terror and hold accountable those responsible. The human rights organization is calling on President Barack Obama and the U.S. Congress to create an independent and impartial commission to examine the use of torture, indefinite detention, secret renditions and other illegal U.S. counterterrorism policies.

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We are people from across the world standing up for humanity and human rights. Our purpose is to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied. We investigate and expose abuses, educate and mobilize the public, and help transform societies to create a safer, more just world.

Amnesty International - USA Links:

Posted in Human Rights, war on terror

To Bush's GWOT, RIP

President Barack Obama has come under some criticism for slowing his promised withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq and for beefing up U.S. forces in Afghanistan, but his 70-day-old administration at least has dumped one part of George W. Bush's bellicose foreign policy: the phrase "global war on terror."

Posted in after bush, war on terror

Torture Taints All Our Lives

Last Friday it was announced that, under instructions from the attorney general to the director of public prosecutions, the police are to investigate claims by released Guantánamo prisoner Binyam Mohamed that MI5 agents had knowledge of his US-directed torture, and that they also provided information to his interrogators while he was being held incommunicado.

Posted in torture, war on terror