Hayden says terrorists are all but defeated
in Iraq, Saudi Arabia
Washington Post May 30, 08 8:57 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Al-Qaeda is "near strategic defeat" in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and the tide is turning against it elsewhere, CIA chief Michael Hayden says in a surprisingly upbeat Washington Post interview today. In contrast to a reports of an al-Qaeda resurgence a year ago, Hayden now cites “significant setbacks for al-Qaeda globally,” as "a lot of the Islamic world pushes back on their form of Islam.” He says the Iraq war is no longer a boon to al-Qaeda recruitment.
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But no evidence of specific plot, says FBI
Reuters May 28, 08 8:52 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Al-Qaeda supporters will use an Internet video to call for the use of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons in a new attack on civilians in the West, reports ABC News. FBI officials have alerted US law enforcement of the tape, said a spokesman, but emphasized that there is no evidence of a specific plot.
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He was beaten,
hung from ceiling,
shocked with electricity
ABC News May 21, 08 12:02 PM CDT
(Newser)
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A man arrested in Pakistan and held as an enemy combatant in Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay was hung from the ceiling, beaten, and shocked with jolts of electricity, he testified to Congress yesterday. The German-born Turkish citizen told lawmakers that US interrogators also forced water down his throat. He was released without charge after nearly 5 years in custody.
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Civil-liberty groups squawk; feds say numbers don't tell whole story
Los Angeles Times May 12, 08 11:15 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Big Brother is watching … but hasn’t found much, the Los Angeles Times reports. Despite vastly increased domestic spying activities, terrorism prosecutions have plummeted 50% since 2002; last year alone saw a 19% drop, despite a 9% increase in eavesdropping warrants. The Bush administration, meanwhile, is pushing for even greater surveillance powers, and says the decrease in prosecutions doesn’t mean much.
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Safe havens in Pakistan have helped group recharge
Reuters Apr 30, 08 4:21 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Al-Qaeda remains the terrorist group that most threatens the US, Reuters reports. An annual State Department survey of worldwide terrorist activity, out today, said the group killed 5,400 civilians—50% Muslims—in 2007. Though weaker now than in 2001 due to multilateral anti-terrorism efforts, the group has used the lawless tribal areas of northwest Pakistan to rebuild its strength.
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MI5 outsourced brutal interrogations to Pakistan, say lawyers
Guardian (UK) Apr 29, 08 3:40 AM CDT
(Newser)
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British intelligence officers have been accused of sending citizens to a Pakistani agency to be tortured, reports the Guardian. MI5 officials requested Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence Agency to arrest British terror suspects in the country, where they were subjected to beatings, whippings, sleep deprivation and fingernail extraction, according to lawyers for the victims.
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As trials draw near, prisoners' mental health at issue
New York Times Apr 26, 08 10:48 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Osama bin Laden's driver can't help his lawyers prepare his defense because he's been driven mad by years of isolation at Guantanamo Bay, his lawyers say. The conditions "boil his mind" and prevent a fair trial, they say, an argument that will become increasingly common as lawyers begin preparing the first war crimes trials for Guantanamo detainees, the New York Times reports.
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Untested system for 9/11 suspects stalling
New York Times Apr 10, 08 7:50 AM CDT
(Newser)
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Six men detained in Guantanamo in connection with the 9/11 attacks were charged with war crimes two months ago—they were to be the first defendants in President Bush's never-tested military commission system. But not a single one has even met their counsel yet because military lawyers are in extremely short supply. It's one of several snags that have confounded efforts to get on with the military trials, the New York Times reports .
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Gates confident new administration will honor promise to NATO
Reuters Apr 4, 08 1:40 PM CDT
(Newser)
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The US will boost the number of its troops committed to NATO's effort in Afghanistan in 2009, President Bush told fellow alliance members at this week's summit, Reuters reports. Defense Secretary Robert Gates related the pledge to reporters as he left the Bucharest summit. He didn’t specify a figure, saying only that it would be a “significant contribution.”
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Newly revealed Yoo memo voided search and seizure protections
Washington Post Apr 4, 08 1:23 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Just a month after Sept. 11, 2001, the Justice Department concluded that anti-terror military operations on US soil were not constrained by the Fourth Amendment protections against search and seizure. The conclusion was detailed in a memo written by John Yoo, the theorist behind many of President Bush's expansions of presidential power. Though it hasn't been released, it was referred to in Yoo's 2003 memo authorizing torture, which was released Tuesday, writes the Washington Post .
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OPINION
Budget woes aren't the only defense issue facing White House's next denizen
Slate Mar 31, 08 3:39 PM CDT
(Newser)
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Has President Bush done irreparable damage to our armed forces? Not necessarily, Phillip Carter and Fred Kaplan write in Slate, offering a to-do list for the next president to tackle as he or she begins the process of fixing a military "in strange shambles." Overhaul the budget: "We don't have the money to stay this course."
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