WTF? The Air Force Office of Scientific Research recently began funding a new research area that includes a study of blogs. Blog research may provide information analysts and warfighters with invaluable help in fighting the war on terrorism. Oh, lChrist. I’m moved to respond. Dear Air Force: Are you fucking insane? Have you lost all your marbles? You have incredible … Read More
GWOT Report Card
116 foreign policy experts were asked how Bush is doing on the Global War On Terrorism. The results were weighted to factor out partisan bias. The short answer: we’re going down the wrong track. Full story and results here.
Quagmired
Today: Iraq’s government is studying a request from some local insurgent leaders to supply them with weapons so they can turn on the heavily armed foreign fighters who were once their allies, according to two Iraqi lawmakers. Leaders claiming to represent about 11 insurgent groups asked for weapons to fight foreign al-Qaeda elements in Iraq, said Haider al-Ibadi, a Shiite … Read More
Bin Who?
Just another example of how badly this government is fighting the war on terrorism: NEW YORK (AP) — A CIA unit that had hunted for Osama bin Laden and his top deputies for a decade has been disbanded, according to a published report. Citing unnamed intelligence officials, The New York Times reported Tuesday that the unit, known as "Alec Station," … Read More
China Is The U.S. Role Model
It’s ironic. Conservatives are still clamoring for prosecution and punishment of the New York Times for reporting a story largely known to terrorists — i.e., that we’re following the money trail. They want the NYT to be penalized for bucking the government. And that’s where this story comes in: Chinese media outlets will be fined up to $12,500 each time … Read More
Lookee What I Found…
From the Geneva Convention Commentaries: In short, all the particular cases we have just been considering confirm a general principle which is embodied in all four Geneva Conventions of 1949. Every person in enemy hands must have some status under international law: he is either a prisoner of war and, as such, covered by the Third Convention, a civilian covered … Read More
The Winger Response To Hamdan
Entirely predictable. They’re getting all outraged and pulling the "activist judges" crap. Here, for example, is the editorial at NRO: As yesterday’s decision again demonstrates, this Court would rather impose its preferences on us than simply follow the law. We should find this unacceptable in any case. But when the consequences of the Court’s arrogance rise to the level of … Read More
Bad Apples
Good lord: BEIJI, Iraq – Five U.S. Army soldiers are being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman, then killing her and three members of her family in Iraq, a U.S. military official told The Associated Press on Friday. The soldiers also allegedly burned the body of the woman they are accused of raping. *** There is no indication what … Read More
Bin Laden Hearts Bush
Remember back in the 2004 election, when the GOP talking point was that bin Laden was rooting for a Democrat to win? It was repeated over and over again, and parroted by the media. Of course, that was just a talking point. The truth is, Bush has been berry berry good to bin Laden. Al Qaeda, once a fringe radical … Read More
Hamdan Perspectives
What Hamdan means — and doesn’t mean: There’s plenty of good analysis at OrinKerr.com and of course SCOTUSBlog. Orin Kerr also cites an interesting New Yorker piece about David Addington, Bush’s "legal mind behind the war on terror" It’s pretty clear from the Hamdan decision that Addington, among others, were simply barking up the wrong tree. The article quotes an … Read More
The Myth Of Al Qaeda
Michael Hirsch writes a convincing article on how, thanks to Bush’s wars, al Qaeda has emerged from a rag-tag group of (admittedly dangerous and occasionally successful) religious fanatics to a full-fleged global mainstream movement — all since 9/11. He concludes: But there was substantial evidence showing that, up to 9/11, Al Qaeda could barely hold its act together, that it … Read More
More on Hamdan: Torture and the Geneva Conventions, AUMF and FISA
Marty Lederman has pinpointed the BIG news about Hamdan decision, which is this: More importantly, the Court held that Common Article 3 of Geneva aplies as a matter of treaty obligation to the conflict against Al Qaeda. That is the HUGE part of today’s ruling. The commissions are the least of it. This basically resolves the debate about interrogation techniques, … Read More
Breaking News: SCOTUS Rules Against Bush On Gitmo Detainees
Just got the CNN email alert which says: The Supreme Court rules President Bush overstepped his authority with military war crimes trials for foreigners held at Guantanamo Bay in a case involving a former driver for Osama bin Laden. No full story yet. Obviously, I’ll be updating this…. UPDATE: Marty Lederman on what the Hamdan case is about: There is … Read More
Faux Outrage
The GOP/Bush outrage against the New York Times for supposedly spilling anti-terrorist operational secrets is bullshit. Back in 2002, the United States Customs Office was openly talking about Operation Green Quest, a program to track the financial programs of would-be terrorists. In fact, the government published a pamphlet about it. In fact, the pamphlet went into greater detail than the … Read More
Freedom Of The Press Threatened
The winger forces, including Bush himself, are screaming for the collective head of the New York Times for its article revealing that the United States monitors bank transactions of would-be terrorists. (Interestingly — or perhaps not — the rightwing wrath is directed solely at The New York Times, not at the conservative Wall Street Journal or L.A. Times, which also … Read More