The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged osama bin laden

U.S. Government Wins Gitmo Habeas Case; Score Is 31-9 in Favor of Detainees

By | 12.15.09 | 12:23 pm

In a rare win for the government in a Guantanamo Bay detainee case, a federal judge ruled Monday that it can continue to hold a 28-year-old Yemeni at the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Musa’ab Al-Madhwani has been imprisoned at Guantanamo since October 2002. More…

Pentagon Tentatively Drops Charges Against Gitmo Detainee Already Returned Home

By | 12.14.09 | 9:21 am

It took the Pentagon almost four months since a federal court ruled the government lacked sufficient evidence against Fouad al Rabia, but late last week — a day after the 50-year-old airline executive was flown home on a Kuwaiti royal jet — the U.S. military commission More…

McChrystal on Bin Laden

By | 12.10.09 | 11:53 am

Does the United States have to remain in Afghanistan until Osama bin Laden is captured? And will the war be incomplete until that happens? Rep. Gus Bilirakis (R-Fla.) wanted to know.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal neglects the first question and answers the second. “I believe al-Qaeda can be defeated overall,” McChrystal More…

Gitmo Detainee Is Returned to Kuwait

By | 12.09.09 | 5:57 pm

The United States today released Fouad Mahmoud Al Rabiah to his native Kuwait after holding him for nearly eight years at Guantanamo Bay.

According to the Department of Justice, Al Rabiah had been cleared for transfer by the government’s Guantanamo Review Task Force. On Sept. 17, More…

What About Bin Laden?

By | 12.08.09 | 3:01 pm

“Are we still about the business of trying to capture or kill” Osama bin Laden? wondered Sen. George LeMieux (R-Fla.).

“Senator, I am commander of ISAF for inside Afghanistan,” McChrystal replied. “Were Osama bin Laden to come in there, of course, that would become a huge priority for all our More…

Why Would Anyone Think the Bush Administration Botched Afghanistan?

By | 12.01.09 | 8:47 am

Politico reporters transcribe, you decide:

Cheney was asked if he thinks the Bush administration bears any responsibility for the disintegration of Afghanistan because of the attention and resources that were diverted to Iraq. “I basically don’t,” he replied without elaborating.

Right, and why follow that one up?

Nothing Like the Day Before Thanksgiving for a Military Commissions Announcement

By | 11.25.09 | 12:06 pm

Midday on Wednesday Nov. 25, one of the busiest travel times of the year, and journalists stuck in check-in lines at the airport frustratingly checking their mobile devices find this pre-Thanksgiving gift from the Department of Defense:

Today, prosecutors in the Office of Military Commissions announced they intend to

More…

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Will Never Ever Be Set Free in the United States

By | 11.17.09 | 10:43 am

Of all the talking points emerging from the conservative side about the 9/11 trials, the prospect of attack architect Khalid Shaikh Mohammed getting set free in the U.S. is perhaps the most far-fetched, at least until the next round of trials are announced. I didn’t take it seriously enough to More…

Is al-Qaeda Drifting Away From the Quetta-Shura Taliban?

By | 11.11.09 | 10:09 am

I don’t know if this is wishful thinking or solid intelligence work. But Josh Partlow at The Washington Post has a spectacular story today from Kabul about possible fissures between al-Qaeda in Pakistan and elements of the Afghan Taliban coalition. Partlow’s sources indicate that the relationships are undergoing a More…

Government Won’t Appeal Gitmo Detainee’s Habeas Case — but Military Commission Charges Still Pending

By | 11.05.09 | 11:55 am

Fouad al Rabiah, a Kuwaiti Airways engineer accused of being an aide to Osama bin Laden who recently won his habeas corpus case in federal court, is a step closer to going home. McClatchy newspapers reports that the 50-year-old father of four was moved to the More…