war on terror

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 27, 2009
1:30 PM

CONTACT: ACLU

James Freedland, (212) 519-7829 or 549-2666; media@aclu.org

Government Brings Federal Charges Against ACLU Client Ali Al-Marri, Only "Enemy Combatant" Held on US Soil

Supreme Court Should Reject Abuse of Executive Power in Al-Marri's Case, Says ACLU

PEORIA, Il - February 27 - Federal prosecutors announced criminal charges today against Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, the only individual to be designated an "enemy combatant" by the Bush administration being held in military detention on U.S. soil. Al-Marri was indicted in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois and charged with two counts of material support for terrorism. The American Civil Liberties Union represents al-Marri in his case before the U.S. Supreme Court challenging his illegal designation as an "enemy combatant."

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The ACLU conserves America's original civic values working in courts, legislatures and communities to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in the United States by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

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Posted in civil liberties, Equality/Justice, war on terror

Senate Panel Prepares to Investigate CIA's Detention and Interrogation Operations

WASHINGTON - The Senate Intelligence Committee is preparing to launch an investigation of the CIA's detention and interrogation programs under President George W. Bush.

The panel thus sets the stage for a sweeping examination of some of most secretive and controversial operations in recent agency history.

Posted in Equality/Justice, war on terror

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 23, 2009
1:43 PM

CONTACT: ACLU

Laurie Gindin Beacham, (212) 549-2666; media@aclu.org

Obama Administration Continues Indefinite Detention Policy for Bagram Prisoners

Government Should Not Maintain "Other Gitmos," Says ACLU

NEW YORK - February 23 - The Obama administration told a federal court late Friday that military detainees in Afghanistan have no legal right to challenge their detention. The move, which is a continuation of the Bush administration's detention policy, comes in a lawsuit filed on behalf of several prisoners who have been indefinitely detained at the Bagram Air Force base for years without trial. The American Civil Liberties Union calls on the new administration to reconsider this troubling position.

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ACLU Links:

Posted in Equality/Justice, guantanamo, torture, war on terror

GI Resistance Alive and Well in Chicago

With a new administration taking office in Washington, and an era of profound economic crisis on the horizon, the U.S.

Posted in military industrial complex, veterans, war on terror, Afghanistan

A Depressing Saga of Secrets, Lies and Medieval Horrors

This is Britain's position on torture: we ratified the UN Convention against it in 1988 and we then passed an Act of Parliament giving authority to the investigation and prosecution of torturers no matter where they cowered. But impressive as all this sounds, how precisely has it helped Binyam Mohamed?

Posted in guantanamo, Human Rights, torture, war on terror

Will Obama Restore Constitutional Government?

While most of us have had our attention fixed on the economic firestorm engulfing the planet, President Obama is failing to meet his only sworn responsibility as our chief executive—to preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Americans understand that George W. Bush defiled the Constitution. The Patriot Acts. Military commissions. Torture.

Posted in constitution, obama, rendition, war on terror

Charlie Savage on Obama's Embrace of Bush/Cheney 'Terrorism Policies'

During the Bush presidency, there were few reporters, if there were any, who were better on issues of civil liberties and executive power abuses than Charlie Savage, who won the Pulitzer Prize for his work exposing the lawlessness of Bush's signing statements while at The Boston Globe. For that reason, it will be very difficult even for the hardest-core Obama supporters to dismiss away the following observations about Obama as nothing more than the angry harping of excessively impatient, unfair

Posted in after bush, beyond obama, war on terror

Obama’s War on Terror May Resemble Bush’s in Some Areas

WASHINGTON - Even as it pulls back from harsh interrogations and other sharply debated aspects of George W. Bush's "war on terrorism," the Obama administration is quietly signaling continued support for other major elements of its predecessor's approach to fighting Al Qaeda.

In little-noticed confirmation testimony recently, Obama nominees endorsed continuing the C.I.A.'s program of transferring prisoners to other countries without legal rights, and indefinitely detaining terrorism suspects without trials even if they were arrested far from a war zone.

Posted in bush, obama, rendition, war on terror, War/Empire

Ministers 'Using Fear of Terror'

A former head of MI5 has accused the government of exploiting the fear of terrorism and trying to bring in laws that restrict civil liberties.

In an interview in a Spanish newspaper, published in the Daily Telegraph, Dame Stella Rimington, 73, also accuses the US of "tortures".

The Home Office said it was vital to strike a right balance between privacy, protection and sharing personal data.

It said any policies which impact on privacy must be "proportionate".

Posted in civil liberties, guantanamo, torture, war on terror

Democrats Divided Over 'Reckoning' for Bush

$A demonstrator displays signs during a protest of the Bush administration's domestic wiretapping program in 2006 in downtown Chicago, Illinois. Two-thirds of Americans favor investigating whether the George W. Bush administration overstepped legal boundaries in its \"war on terror,\" according to a poll released by USA Today and Gallup. (AFP/Getty Images/File/Tim Boyle)$

NEW YORK - With growing public support for a public investigation of crimes that may have been committed by the administration of former president George W. Bush in waging its "global war on terror", policy makers and legal experts are deeply divided on how to proceed - and President Barack Obama seems ambivalent about whether to proceed at all.

Posted in bush, torture, war on terror