In addition to the always outstanding analysis provided by Bobby Chesney and John Bellinger on the Obama administration’s new executive order on GTMO detention review, and the accompanying “Fact Sheet“, there is another fascinating feature that merits discussion. Here’s the question: by recognizing Article 75 of Additional Protocol I of the Geneva Convention (API) as customary international law, which includes in §4(g) the “right to examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf,” has the administration inadvertently (or …
Yesterday, U.S. and European intelligence officials revealed that they have detected an al-Qaeda plot to carry out a major, coordinated series of commando-style terror attacks in Britain, France, Germany, and possibly the U.S. Specifically, a suspected German terrorist allegedly captured on his way to Europe in late summer and now being held at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan told interrogators that terrorists were planning a series of “Mumbai-style” commando raids on what were termed “economic or soft” targets. ABC News reports: The new threat to France, and to Germany and Britain …
GUANTANAMO BAY, CUBA – I was privileged to be one of six representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) invited by the Office of Military Commissions to observe the guilty plea of Ibrahim al Qosi here in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, yesterday. The other invitees were the ACLU, Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the National Institute of Military Justice (NIMJ). Each of those organizations have been highly critical of military commissions, denouncing them as unfair, unjust, unnecessary, not in keeping with the rule of law, and not fair compared …
During this past Wednesday’s mark-up of the Fiscal Year 2011 National Defense Authorization Act my fellow conservatives on the House Armed Services Committee stood strongly on the side of the American people, vociferously fighting for security, liberty, and freedom through our Defend America First platform. One of the issues debated on Wednesday, which many of us have deemed most detrimental to our Republic, is the disgraceful actions apparently undertaken by the disloyal defense lawyers involved in the John Adams Project. We have called for an immediate and thorough investigation of …
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals just issued a blockbuster opinion that vindicates both the Bush and Obama administration’s positions regarding whether detainees captured overseas and held in Afghanistan have the constitutional right to challenge their detention via habeas corpus. The appeals court, in a methodical opinion reversing a lower court decision, said no. The opinion will have wide-ranging implications in the war on terror, and if it holds (i.e. is not taken up by the Supreme Court and overturned), it gives the green light to an administration which has, …
It is being widely reported that the Director of National Intelligence has resigned. Much of the speculation over the resignation revolves around his role in directing counterterrorism operations. Regardless, of this speculation the conduct of global counterterrorism operations by the Obama administration is a legitimate concern. Thirty-one terrorist plots have been foiled since 9/11—two out of the last three in this administration have been by shear luck. The White House continues to deemphasize the threat of Islamist terrorism and the Long War against al Qaeda. It has also failed to …
CHICAGO – This morning, the Chicago Committee for Heritage hosted a panel discussion titled “Lawyers, Terrorists, and the Common Defense: Has the Obama Administration Signaled Surrender to America’s Enemies?” The discussion featured Heritage policy expert Secretary Cully Stimson and Senator Jim Talent, and focused on the Obama Administration’s approach to foreign policy and terrorism. Sen. Talent opened the discussion by stressing the U.S. Constitution’s emphasis on the government’s duty to provide for the common defense, to provide and maintain a Navy, and to raise and support Armies. He also pointed …
At last week’s Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, after Attorney General Eric Holder again refused to rule out a civilian trial for Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) shot back: “We know the administration is not going to hold the trial in New York. They should just say it already.” But the Obama administration will fight reality on this issue for as long as politically possible because the far left and Attorney General Holder still believe military tribunals for KSM and other terrorists are inconsistent with the Geneva Convention. Holder, …
In today’s editorial titled “The K.S.M. Files,” the New York Times laments the good ‘ole days of 2009, when, in their words, “the United States was making progress toward cleaning up the mess President George W. Bush made with his detention policies. The Pentagon was working on closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay. The flawed military tribunals were improved, at least a bit. And the Justice Department announced that the accused mastermind of 9/11, Khalid Shaikh (sic) Mohammed, would be tried in federal court.” Setting nostalgia aside, and the fact …
Yesterday Attorney General Eric Holder announced that the Obama Justice Department would appeal a U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson’s order to release 9/11 terrorist operative Mohamedou Ould Slahi. This is a good decision by Holder. Our nation would be less safe if Slahi was released from U.S. custody. But the very need for the appeal underscores how the Obama administration’s larger approach to detainee treatment is seriously undermining our national security. Former Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York and current National Review Institute senior …
