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...
There is a fascinating article in the Guardian (UK) today discussing a number of UK criminal cases in which defendants charged with destroying or vandalizing military property were able to use the illegality of the Iraq war to argue the defense of necessity. An Irish case is particularly striking: Last year, five peace campaigners were acquitted after using an...
Over at National Security Advisors, my friend Tung Yin has a post about the sentencing of Lynne Stewart to 28 months in prison for allegedly conspiring with Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to help him transmit messages from prison to his followers. Though Tung praises the judge's refusal to impose the absurd 20-year sentence the government requested, he seems...
I usually avoid commenting on Gitmo issues, deferring to those who have far more competence in national security issues than I. But I can't help but point out how sad this story makes me: The Navy lawyer who led a successful Supreme Court challenge of the Bush administration's military tribunals for detainees at Guantanamo Bay has been passed over for...
Peggy and I have both noted a subtle erosion in the Bush adminstration's opposition to the ICC. See, for example, here and here. That erosion continued today, as President Bush announced that he was using his authority under Section 2007 of the American Servicemembers Protection Act to permit the U.S. to resume military aid to 21 countries who...
My blogging will be light this week, as I prepare to participate in an international conference on the Saddam trial at Case-Western. Ken Roth, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, and I will be debating the fairness of the Dujail trial with Michael Scharf and Michael Newton. (Needless to say, Ken and I are on the "no"...
I think the beer — more sought after than the Ranfurly Shield — is mine:The last pre-election loophole through which John Bolton's confirmation might have snuck through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was at 2:15 this afternoon at a previously called "business meeting" of the Committee. That meeting has been cancelled — and with it even the dimmest chance of John...
