War on Terrorism

Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri: The Torture Victim the United States Is Desperate to Gag

by Andy Worthington July 26, 2012

A millionaire Saudi businessman, Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, is accused of being the brains behind the terrorist attack on the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen in 2000, in which 17 U.S. soldiers died. He is also a victim of the notorious torture program initiated by the Bush administration after the 9/11 attacks. No less a source than the ...

Bagram: Still a Black Hole for Foreign Prisoners

by Andy Worthington July 19, 2012

In March 2009, three foreign prisoners seized in other countries and rendered to the main U.S. prison in Afghanistan, at Bagram airbase, where they had been held for up to seven years, secured a legal victory in the District Court in Washington, D.C., when Judge John D. Bates ruled that they had habeas corpus rights. In other ...

U.S. Honors Deal to Release Convicted Bin Laden Cook from Guantanamo to Sudan

by Andy Worthington July 13, 2012

Getting out of Guantánamo is such a feat these days (with only three men released in the last 18 months) that it is remarkable that Ibrahim al-Qosi, a Sudanese prisoner who agreed to a plea deal at his war-crimes trial in Guantánamo in July 2010 guaranteeing that he would be freed after two years, has been repatriated as ...

The United States in Talks to Return the 17 Afghan Prisoners in Guantánamo

by Andy Worthington July 6, 2012

Earlier this year, there was much discussion in the U.S. media about the possibility that, as part of negotiations aimed at securing peace in Afghanistan, the United States would release five high-level Taliban prisoners in Guantánamo to Qatar, where they would be held under a form of house arrest. Those plans came to nothing, but last week the

Polish Senator’s Startling New Allegations about the CIA Torture Prison in Poland

by Andy Worthington June 29, 2012

In the long quest for accountability for those who ordered, authorized, or were complicit in the Bush administration’s torture program, every avenue has been shut down within the United States by the Obama administration, the Justice Department, and the courts. The only hope lies elsewhere in the world, and specifically Poland, one of three European ...

Still No Accountability for Torture

by Andy Worthington June 22, 2012

Last week, the bad news from the Supreme Court was not manifested only in the Court’s decision to abdicate its responsibilities towards the prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by turning down appeals submitted by 7 of the 169 men still held. That dreadful decision established that the D.C. Circuit Court could continue in its mission to

The Supreme Court Abandons the Guantánamo Prisoners

by Andy Worthington June 15, 2012

On Monday June 11, when the Supreme Court decided to turn down seven appeals submitted by prisoners held at Guantánamo without providing any explanation, a particularly low point was reached in the prison’s history. The decision came just one day before the fourth anniversary of Boumediene v. Bush, the hugely significant 2008 ruling recognizing the prisoners constitutionally guaranteed ...

“Pragmatism over Ideology”: Obama’s Failure to Close Guantánamo, and His Love of Drones

by Andy Worthington June 8, 2012

On May 29, a major article in the New York Times painted a grim portrait of how Barack Obama has taken over from George W. Bush as the “commander in chief” of a “war on terror” that seems to have no end, and that not only appears to be counterproductive but also, at heart, illegal. Understandably, critics have ...

U.S. Judge Rules against Military Detention of U.S. Terror Suspects — But What About the Foreigners in Guantánamo?

by Andy Worthington May 25, 2012

Last week in New York, U.S. District Judge Katherine Forrest took a stand against a contentious provision inserted into the current National Defense Authorization Act (PDF). She ruled (PDF) that it was unconstitutional for lawmakers to demand that, in future, those accused of involvement with terrorism — including U.S. citizens and residents — be subjected ...

Why No Trials for Abu Zubaydah and Seven Other “High-Value Detainees” in Guantánamo?

by Andy Worthington May 18, 2012

Two weeks ago, when Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other “high-value detainees” were arraigned at Guantánamo in preparation for their forthcoming trial by military commission, they brought to eight the number of “high-value detainees” tried, put forward for trials, or having agreed to a plea deal to avoid a trial and secure a reduced sentence. In total,

Chaos at Guantánamo as the 9/11 Trial Begins

by Andy Worthington May 9, 2012

On Saturday, the eyes of the world were on Guantánamo, as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other men accused of planning and facilitating the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 — Ramzi bin al-Shibh, Ali Abd al-Aziz Ali, Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, and Walid bin Attash — appeared in a courtroom for the first time since December 2008. All were ...

Torture: The Bush Administration on Trial

by Andy Worthington May 7, 2012

Law-abiding U.S. citizens have been appalled that Jose Rodriguez, the director of the CIA’s National Clandestine Service until his retirement in 2007, was invited to appear on CBS’s 60 Minutes program last weekend to promote his book, “Hard Measures: How Aggressive CIA Actions After 9/11 Saved American Lives,” in which he defends the use of ...