Posts by Spencer Ackerman

In some quarters, Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s order to his troops in Afghanistan to protect civilians first represents a dangerous exposure to battlefield risk, particularly as he’s restricted offensive airstrikes and instructed his troops to stop fighting insurgents who retreat into population centers. To counterinsurgents, McChrystal is putting the mission first, [...]

Man, Dan Benjamin, the State Department’s counterterrorism chief, sure picked an unlucky day to deliver a speech defending the Obama administration’s counterterrorism record to the International Peace Institute in New York:
Finally, our approach recognizes that our counterterrorism efforts can best succeed when they make central respect for human rights and [...]

Human Rights First, which staunchly opposes any decision to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and his fellow 9/11 conspirators in a military commission, convened a conference call with three prominent retired military leaders similarly opposed.
Retired Army Maj. Gen. William Nash, who served in Vietnam, the Gulf War and Bosnia, said he [...]

Retired Army Maj. Gen. Paul Eaton, who helped command the training of the Iraqi Army during the early phase of the Iraq war, is distressed to hear that at least some of President Obama’s advisers are urging him to abandon a civilian trial for 9/11 architect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. “I do [...]

Colum Lynch does a whip count and reports the answer is yes: There are now 10 votes for Amb. Susan Rice’s sanctions package on Iran’s nuclear program, one more than necessary for passage. But it doesn’t look like it’ll be an easy fight. The Russians and the Chinese, both of whom [...]

The Washington Post is pretty sure that Obama’s advisers are congealing around abandoning Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian court. Apparently President Obama has yet to make a decision. If he goes back to the military commissions for KSM and the other 9/11 conspirators — military charges against them were dropped in late January — Obama [...]

You can’t raid the Pentagon that way — those who built the building thought of this — but you can kill a lot of commuters, especially shortly before 7 on a weeknight. Luckily that hasn’t happened, but two Pentagon guards have been injured. The suspect is in custody and the Department of Defense put out [...]

So one of the so-called “Gitmo Nine” Justice Department lawyers attacked by Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) is Tony West. West, the associate attorney general for the civil division of Justice, defended John Walker Lindh, the California rich kid sentenced to 20 years for aiding the Taliban. You can learn about [...]

It’s not just Alberto Gonzales. Adam Serwer talks to John Bellinger, who served as Condoleezza Rice’s legal adviser at the State Department and the National Security Council, about the Grassley/Sessions/Cheneyite smears on the Justice Department lawyers who represented Guantanamo detainees:
“I think it’s unfortunate that these individuals are being criticized for their past representation, it reflects [...]

There are two senators who’ve accused Justice Department attorneys who represented Guantanamo detainees of sympathizing with terrorists: Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and, perhaps more disturbingly, Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee who very nearly became a federal judge in the 1980s. Their logic is no different than presuming a lawyer who defends [...]