Author: Alejandro

A former CIA official’s allegation that waterboarding was approved by top officials from the White House, the NSC Council and the Justice Department heats up the debate about whether “enhanced interrogation techniques” is a euphemism for torture: Water-boarding as Torture – or Not (BBC News) Agent: Waterboarding OK’ed at the Top (Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle)…

Saudi Arabia touts the success of a rehabilitation program to woo former Gitmo detainees away from radicalism, but “Defense attorneys, human rights advocates and former Guantanamo detainees say, however, that the Saudi program works because most of the men held at Guantanamo were not a threat in the first place”: After Guantanamo, ‘Reintegration’ for Saudis…

Under a bizarre Congress and morally ambiguous Supreme Court, endangered iguanas at Guantanamo have more rights to protection than detainees whose history of being tortured was overlooked by lawmakers in 2002 and erased by the CIA in 2005: Guantanamo: Legal No-Man’s Land? (Associated Press/San Francisco Chronicle) Hill Briefed on Waterboarding in 2002 (Washington Post) Probe…

Seeking to keep itself outside the bounds of potential “litigation and congressional investigations”, the CIA destroys videotapes showing the harsh interrogation of two high-level Al-Qaeda operatives, which may involve waterboarding: CIA Destroyed Videos Showing Interrogations (Washington Post) Sloppy accounting practices lead to large amounts of missing equipment destined for Iraqi security forces’ training, including the…

In the opening salvos over Gitmo detainees’ right to habeas corpus, referring to the legal tinkering with the flawed military commissions, defense lawyer Seth Waxman argues, “the time for experimentation is over”: Justices Appear Divided on Detainees’ Rights (Washington Post) Israeli military and economic pressure and peace talks in Annapolis seem to lead to shift…

In the aftermath of the National Intelligence Estimate’s latest report stating a lack of an Iranian nuclear weapons program since 2003, Ahmadinejad claims “a great victory”, while neocon hardliner Robert Kagan and former Australian foreign minister Gareth Evans see an opportunity to talk to Tehran: Nuclear Report A Victory – Iran (BBC News) Time to…

Despite a US intelligence consensus report asserting that Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003, President Bush still argues that Iran poses a threat: U.S. Finds That Iran Halted Nuclear Arms Bid in 2003 (Washington Post) Bush: US Must Remain Vigilant on Iran (Associated Press/Washington Post) To consolidate control over the West Bank and…

The Supreme Court’s latest hearing surrounding the Gitmo detainees will determine the legality of the military commission system and whether or not it is an “adequate and effective” alternative to suspending prisoners’ rights to habeus corpus in civilian courts: For Justices, Another Day on Detainees (New York Times) …meanwhile Miami-based federal judge Marcia Cooke will…

New television and Internet media outlets allow space for young preachers like American Muslim Moez Masoud to promote “ ‘a sweet orthodoxy, which stresses the humane and compassionate’ as an alternative to ‘unthinking rage’”: Younger Muslims Tune In to Upbeat Religious Message (Washington Post) Forced to mount a defense with their hands tied behind their…

Saudi lawyer and human rights advocate Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem sues the Justice Ministry for revoking his legal license and defaming his client, a gang rape victim, of having an affair: Rights Advocate Fights Back (Washington Post) “A young man cannot find true Islam in state-sanctioned religion…So a young man, with all his power, starts searching for…