Newsroom

Update

I should have felt triumphant when I returned from Iraq in August 2006. Instead, I was worried and exhausted. My team of interrogators had successfully hunted down one of the most notorious mass murderers of our generation, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the mastermind of the campaign of suicide bombings that had helped plunge Iraq into civil war. But instead of celebrating our success, my mind was consumed with the unfinished business of our mission: fixing the deeply flawed, ineffective and un-American way the U.S. military conducts interrogations in Iraq. I'm still alarmed about that…

February 19, 2009

Update

In the Afterword to her book The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned into a War on American Ideals, Jane Mayer states: "The number of patriotic critics inside the administration and out who threw themselves into trying to head off what they saw as a terrible departure from America's ideals, often at an enormous price to their own careers, is both humbling and reassuring." One such person is Jack Goldsmith, a Bush appointee who became chief of the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel in 2003. That position had previously been held by Jay…

February 18, 2009

Update

Unexpectedly, good news from Egypt.  The government has released Ayman Nour, one of the country’s most prominent dissidents who came in second to President Mubarak in the 2005 presidential elections. The BBC report can be found here; The Associated Press story here. The stated reason for his release was his poor health, although some speculate it is a gesture toward the new Obama administration. Nour’s conviction and detention despite his poor health has been taken both as an example of the Egyptian government’s determination to muzzle all of civic society and the West’s inability to move the government on human…

February 18, 2009

Update

Palestinian land was declared 'state lands' recently by Israel to expand the settlement of Efrat, near Bethlehem. This announcement was made just two weeks before Secretary of State is due to meet with newly elected government officials in Israel. Settlements are illegal under international law and Amnesty International condemns their presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories based on their illegality and believes the existence of these settlements has led to mass human rights violations against the local Palestinian population. Settlements aren’t only illegal under international law, but are at odds with American policy. Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice repeatedly made trips to…

February 17, 2009

Update

On Monday the International Commission of Jurists released the results of a three-year global study "Assessing Damage, Urging Action" into the adverse impact the Bush administration's prosecution of the Global War on Terror has had on international human rights. The panel of eminent lawyers and judges drawn from countries as diverse as Pakistan, Thailand, South Africa, Ireland and the United States found that the existing framework of national and international laws that had existed prior to the September 11th attacks were both "robust and effective" and "well-equipped" to counter terrorist threats. The experts lamented that, instead of better protecting the public, the…

February 17, 2009

Update

On February 12, 2009, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon announced that a UN Board of Inquiry had begun its work "to review and investigate a number of specific incidents that occurred in the Gaza Strip between 27 December 2008 and 19 January 2009 and in which death or injuries occurred at, and/or damage was done to, United Nations premises or in the course of United Nations operations." While the UN has legitimate reason to be concerned about attacks on UN sites--including the Israeli attack on a UN school, the UN should expand its investigation to examine a broader range of possible…

February 16, 2009

Update

In an interview on the Tavis Smiley show, British born musician MIA likened the Sri Lanka government’s targeting of its Tamil minority to be genocide. She said: there's been a systematic genocide which has quiet thing because no one knows where Sri Lanka is. And now it's just escalated to the point there's 350,000 people who are stuck in a battle zone and can't get out, and aid's banned and humanitarian organizations are banned, journalists are banned from telling the story. In the interview, MIA said that one of the reasons for the global inaction on Sri Lanka was the underreporting…

February 16, 2009

Update

Almost two weeks ago Donatella Rovera, AI researcher posted an entry 'Task of reconstruction will be truly immense' during her mission to southern Israel and the Gaza Strip. This 20 year veteran stated how she and her team were "shocked" and "horrified" at the scale of destruction found and that although prepared for devastation, what they "found was even worse than we had first realized". United Nation's satellite imagery taken of northern Gaza shows widespread and intense damage to buildings, infrastructure and impact craters. Although over 1500 buildings, roads and structures have been damaged, UNOSAT notes that other structures may be…

February 15, 2009

Update

With each new sudden loss of life, like the crash of a Continental Airlines flight near Buffalo on February 13, a fresh awareness of the fragility of life and a new sense of urgency washes over us like a powerful wave.  In particular, the life of Beverly Eckert, a passenger on the plane, offers special inspiration for all citizens who believe in holding our government accountable. Ms. Eckert, who lost her husband in the 9/11 attacks, led families of other 9/11 victims in seeking a thorough investigation of mistakes made by the U.S. government that prevented it from thwarting the…

February 15, 2009

Update

A USA Today/Gallup Poll published earlier this week found a strong desire amongst Americans for investigations into human rights abuses committed during the Global war on Terror by the Bush administration.  38% of those interviewed expressed a preference for criminal investigations into these abuses.  24% favored a truthfinding inquiry without prosecutions. While the Obama administration continues to argue for looking forward rather than back, the argument for accountability is gaining momentum propelled by the initiatives in the House and the Senate to investigate Bush era abuses.  The USA Today/Gallup Poll suggests that Senator Leahy and Representative Conyers are better in…

February 13, 2009

Update

The Caribbean.  Beautiful sun-drenched beaches. Palm trees swaying in ocean breezes. Snorkeling.  Scuba diving.  Fruity rum drinks.  Etc.  Those who see the Caribbean as a fabulous tourist destination aren’t inclined to spend much time dwelling on the criminal justice systems of these island nations.  They might have a sense that there is a crime problem, but probably wouldn’t know that the Caribbean in fact has one of the highest murder rates in the world.  Or that this is generating a political movement to bring back executions, which have been rare to non-existent in the region in recent years. On St.…

February 13, 2009

Update

The past week has seen some alarming news stories (and bloggers trying to figure out how alarming) suggesting that the Obama administration may be backing away from commitments made on the campaign trail to end detainee abuse, promote American adherance to international human rights standards and bring greater transparency to Washington. The Senate confirmation hearings for the new Director of the Central Intelligence, Leon Panetta, raised the most significant flag when he told Senators that he had no intention of holding CIA officers responsible for the policies they were told to carry out – effectively suggesting the historically discredited defense of “only…

February 12, 2009