In August when Bahrain’s police came under pressure to explain its interrogation of Nabeel Rajab, a prominent international human rights activist, for articles and tweets questioning whether the government had tortured its own citizens, the country’s “Ministry of Interior” issued a news advisory on the case. Its headline More…
“We will destroy al-Qaeda.”
That’s how John Brennan capped his presentation Wednesday morning on counterterrorism’s role in the forthcoming National Security Strategy, and the often intense White House senior counterterrorism adviser smiled a bit as he said it. His exploration of the administration’s pathway for getting there was mostly familiar. More…
Descend for a moment, won’t you, into a bureaucratic labyrinth with me, in pursuit of constitutional rights and government transparency.
In April, anonymous administration officials claimed to reporters that they possessed the right to kill an American citizen, Anwar al-Awlaki, because of Awlaki’s apparent connections to al-Qaeda. There was More…
The Los Angeles Times follows up on Attorney General Eric Holder’s moment of consensus Wednesday with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on creating new indefinite detention rules for a post-Guantanamo effort against al-Qaeda. It’s a consequence of the Obama administration’s decision not only to close Guantanamo but to renounce More…
Both Eli Lake and Greg Miller report that President Obama personally asked Steve Kappes last year to remain the CIA’s deputy director. Kappes’ boss, Leon Panetta, announced yesterday that Kappes will be retiring next month. Under the Kappes Continuity — he ascended to deputy director in More…
After confirming that the administration has determined 48 detainees at Guantanamo who are “not feasible to transfer [and] too dangerous to prosecute,” Attorney General Eric Holder conceded that the administration still doesn’t have a structure in place for handling their indefinite detention without trial. Holder told Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) More…
In an interview with Adam Serwer of The American Prospect, Ken Gude of the Center for American Progress says that the September 14, 2001 congressional Authorization to Use Military Force in response to 9/11 provides the Obama administration with the legal authority to launch the extra-judicial killing of an American More…
In February, the director of national intelligence, Dennis Blair, told a congressional panel that there were certain counterterrorism cases that could involve killing an American citizen. That, he cautioned, required a special process through the National Security Council — for safeguards.
Anwar al-Awlaki is an American citizen, born in New More…
On March 16, Shane Harris reported that Harold Koh, the State Department’s legal adviser, asserted that the Obama administration’s drone strikes on al-Qaeda and affiliated targets are legal, and would at some point make a more fulsome public case for why that is. Last night, reports Mark More…
Via Robert Mackey at The New York Times, CNN obtains a new audiotaped message from Yemen-based Anwar al-Awlaki. He aims a section of the tape at challenging American Muslims to choose between their country and their faith.
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