In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Author: Kevin Jon Heller

15 Apr

I in no way believe that Deb exhibits “virtually pathological level of tribal loyalty and monumental intellectual dishonesty,” and I doubt that Glenn does either.  That said, I am not sure that Deb's (clearly initial) thoughts on the Obama administration avoids Glenn's basic critique -- that Obama supporters justify his increasingly Bush-like policies by de-emphasizing substance in favor of personality...

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14 Apr

In his new book Saviors and Survivors: Darfur, Politics, and the War on Terror, Mahmood Mamdani claims that, "in its present form, the call for justice is really a slogan that masks a big power agenda to recolonize Africa."  There is more than a grain of truth to that; I think my friend Tony Anghie's seminal work Imperialism, Sovereignty, and...

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14 Apr

This according to the ever-reliable Scott Horton: Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo, several reliable sources close to the investigation have told The Daily Beast. Their decision is expected to be announced...

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13 Apr

My professor in the Literature Program at Duke University, Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, has passed away.  Eve was one of the pioneering figures in queer theory.  From Duke University Press's announcement: Duke University Press mourns the loss of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick.      We have been proud to publish six of Sedgwick’s books. The first, Tendencies (1992) is...

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11 Apr

Still more disappointment from Bush 44: The Obama administration said Friday that it would appeal a district court ruling that granted some military prisoners in Afghanistan the right to file lawsuits seeking their release. The decision signaled that the administration was not backing down in its effort to maintain the power to imprison terrorism suspects for extended periods without judicial oversight. In...

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10 Apr

More disappointment from Bush 44: Lawyers and judges working on Guantanamo Bay legal cases are showing signs of exasperation at President Barack Obama's administration, which they accuse of slowing federal judicial procedures for detainees. Two federal judges tasked with examining cases by five Guantanamo prisoners contesting their detention -- a right to habeas corpus granted by the Supreme Court in June 2008...

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07 Apr

Homework, people, homework: Bangladesh may request the International Criminal Court to put on trial Pakistani forces for alleged war crimes, a top official said Tuesday. 'We will take the matter to the International Criminal Court and seek the trial of the members of the Pakistani occupation forces who committed crimes against humanity during our liberation war,' State Minister for Liberation War...

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07 Apr

My long slow slide into complete disenchantment with the Obama administration continues.  Comes now, via my two favorite national-security law bloggers, Glenn Greewald and Scott Horton, a truly terrifying tale in which a nameless and faceless Department of Defense committee attempts to put Clive Stafford Smith, one of the world's great human-rights lawyers, in jail for...

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07 Apr

Our colleagues at International Law Observer asked me to write a post for them in honor of the blog's second anniversary.  I was delighted to do so, and the post is now up.  It's a long reflection on the pros and cons of international law blogging -- a timely subject, I think, given that I have been cited twice by...

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05 Apr

I've always loved the New York Times.  I've been reading it since I was a kid.  But this comment by the paper's Executive Editor, Bill "Isn't the Iraq War Just Swell?" Keller, makes me want to cancel my subscription: Saving the New York Times now ranks with saving Darfur as a high-minded cause. Yeah, propping up the Gray Lady is just as...

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