In association with the International Commission of Jurists

November 2006

08 Nov

News involving Saddam to report: Saddam's principal defense attorney, Khalil Duleimi, has accused the U.S. military of confining the defense team in the Green Zone since the verdict was announced, preventing them from returning to Amman. Dulemi believes that their confinement represents a deliberate attempt on the part of the military to deprive them of access to the media and...

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08 Nov

File this one under "not such a good idea":Part of a Nazi leader's speech was played over the public address system before a high school soccer game, prompting an apology by the home team's principal. Forestview High School principal Robert Carpenter said neither he nor his team's coach knew about the speech before the 90-second excerpt was played during warmups Saturday,...

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08 Nov

In a move likely to have a significant impact on U.S. foreign policy, particularly with respect to Iraq, President Bush announced today that Donald Rumsfeld is resigning as Defense Secretary and that Robert Gates is replacing him. Here's an excerpt from the ABC News Report: Donald Rumsfeld will resign as Defense Secretary in a stunning consequence of yesterday's midterm election results...

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08 Nov

Steve Clemons thinks that among other things we’ll see the CIA’s secret detention centers be de-funded “for sure” and that we’ll see a “modern version of public hangings” in the form of oversight hearings on Iraq-related issues. Roger similarly suggests below that there will be sharp confrontation on executive power. I wonder. Executive power and detainee treatment...

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08 Nov

Although this was an unusually foreign policy-focused congressional midterm election here in the States, international trade was not on any candidate's radar screen. Still, one early indicator of the new Congress' internationalist temperamant will be whether it swiftly approves Vietnam's accession to the WTO. Although the WTO General Council formally approved Vietnam's application for membership yesterday, the U.S....

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08 Nov

So how will the mid-term elections affect international relations? Here are my predictions of ten things to look for in the next two years: 1. House investigations on the war in Iraq. 2. House spending limits on the war in Iraq. 3. Cabinet level changes. 4. Democratic infighting about the road ahead in Iraq. 5. Trade Promotion...

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07 Nov

The WaPo story here. As the International Criminal Court shows itself to be a responsible institution (note the report that prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo has rejected several hundred petitions to initiate actions against US officials), the policy fear factor inevitably dissipates, and the possible strategic benefits for the US come into clearer focus. But how long will it take to overcome...

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07 Nov

As election day proceeds apace in the United States, it’s worth turning our gaze southward to note that the OAS’s Electoral Observation Mission has declared that the November 5, 2006 Nicaraguan elections were “peaceful and orderly, had a massive turnout and took place in accordance with the law.” It found an average citizen participation of approximately 70%, with only...

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07 Nov

The AP has a story today on Saddam's pending appeal that implies very strongly that Saddam will be executed before the Anfal trial is completed:If the nine-judge appeals panel upholds the death sentences, they could be ready for signing early next year, according to a schedule laid out Monday by chief prosecutor Jaafar Moussawi. Moussawi said the Iraqi High Tribunal must...

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07 Nov

In other Saddam news, statements by the Iraqi government earlier today support my suspicion that it believes quickly executing Saddam will help quell the insurgency:If the final verdict confirms Saddam’s guilt, he will be executed within 30 days, and some powerful Iraqi voices are calling for the judges not to dawdle. ‘We strongly feel that every day he lives is not...

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