I've always believed that one of the least appreciated, but most powerful arguments against torture is that it harms not only the victim, but the torturer, as well. If this story is true -- and there seems to be no indication that it isn't -- the sad case of one of the first women to die in Iraq makes...
Robert Fisk has a troubling story in the Independent (UK) today raising the possibility that Israel used uranium-based weapons against Hezbollah targets during the recent conflict:[S]cientific evidence gathered from at least two bomb craters in Khiam and At-Tiri, the scene of fierce fighting between Hizbollah guerrillas and Israeli troops last July and August, suggests that uranium-based munitions may now also...
Last month, as I reported here, Chile's Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision that stripped Pinochet of his immunity in a case involving Chile's infamous Villa Grimaldi prison, where the current President, Michelle Bachelet, was tortured in 1975. A Chilean magistrate judge, Alejandro Solis, has now filed formal charges against the former dictator and issued a warrant for...
President Bush signed a bill yesterday authorizing the construction of a 700 mile fence along the U.S.-Mexico border. The fence, of course, is very controversial, opposed not only by Mexico -- outgoing President Vicente Fox has called it "shameful" and likened it to the Berlin wall -- but also by the national union representing Border Patrol agents, the National...
Do you like The Onion? Are you a big fan -- or big critic -- of the World Trade Organization? If so, here is the website for you. Perusing the site is a surreal experience; it seems so real, yet something is just a bit off...
I have posted a new essay on SSRN, "A Poisoned Chalice: The Substantive and Procedural Defects of the Iraqi High Tribunal." Here is the abstract:Scholars and human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized Saddam Hussein's initial trial for violating the basic requirements of international due process. Although those criticisms are justified, they are only half the story. A trial is...
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, the first and largest group of its kind, has given letter grades to every Representative and Senator based on their voting history on issues that affect soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, war veterans, and military families. The methodolgy used by the non-profit and non-partisan group was straightforward: To calculate the Ratings, IAVA reviewed...
The blogosphere is abuzz about the Republicans' latest attempt at fearmongering, an homage to LBJ's classic "Daisy" advertisement. Here's how CNN describes the ad, which is entitled "The Stakes": The ad features al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, speaking, but the only sound is a ticking clock in the background. The terror leaders'...
Sticking with the munitions theme, Israel reversed course today and admitted that the Israeli Defense Forces have used white phosphorus against Hezbollah military targets. Previously, Israel had claimed that the IDF had used the weapon only to mark targets or territory, uses generally pemitted by international humanitarian law (IHL). Israel continues to deny allegations — made repeatedly...
Human Rights Watch continues to investigate war crimes committed by both Israel and Hezbollah. In July, the organization reported on Israel's indiscrimate use of cluster munitions in Southern Lebanon. Now HRW has released a report detailing Hezbollah's use of similar munitions against Israel — attacks that are, according to the organization, "at best indiscriminate, i.e., they violated the...
Today is the deadline for the Bush administration to respond to a federal magistrate judge's recommendation that Luis Posada Carriles be freed. Amazingly enough, a mainstream media outlet — the Washington Post — has actually bothered to publish an article about Posada's case. The article is something of a mixed bag; although it discusses Posada's CIA training,...
Elaine Cassel has an excellent editorial in FindLaw today about the Bush administration's war on attorneys who have the temerity to defend alleged terrorists. In addition to Lynne Stewart and Lt. Commander Swift, she also discusses the government's investigation of Clive Stafford Smith, who defended the three GITMO prisoners who committed suicide last June -- an act described by...
