Getting Away with Torture RIGHTS the Bush Administration and Mistreatment of Detainees WATCH
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I Have Been Working on a Book, Stand-Ins, on The
Workshop Participants: I have been working on a book, Stand-Ins, on the causes and consequences of temporary leadership in government, business, and religion, which is aimed at a more general audience. Given recent events, I have returned to more traditional scholarship to explore some of the issues involving temporary leadership (and the lack thereof) in federal agencies, among other topics. This paper is brand new, incomplete, and unpolished. Given its length, I would recommend reading the Introduction (pp.1-5), Scope of Actings (pp.13-27), and Statutory Questions (pp.33-42). I look forward to your reactions and suggestions for improvement. AJO Actings Anne Joseph O’Connell Stanford Law School April 1, 2019 Please do not cite or distribute beyond the workshop without permission. I. Introduction Stand-in leaders do not usually command much attention. They step up in moments of need to keep organizations running. The stereotypical interim leader is therefore a caretaker—in place to maintain stability; not to implement major changes. But not all interim leaders are caretakers. Some are auditioning for the permanent job. And a few are there to shake up the organization—so-called “fixers”. The scope of temporary leadership is vast—after all, traditional leaders are transitory, and selection procedures for more permanent leaders take time. On the public side, there are interim leaders in all branches of the federal government. In Congress, there are appointed senators, chosen by their state’s governor to fill in for an elected senator who has died or resigned, perhaps in disgrace or perhaps to take a different job. -
Appendix M of Army Field Manual on Interrogations Dear Mr
Nov. 16, 2010 The Honorable Robert M. Gates Secretary of Defense 100 Defense Pentagon Washington, DC 20301 Re: Appendix M of Army Field Manual on Interrogations Dear Mr. Secretary, We are writing regarding the updated U.S. Army Field Manual on Interrogations, adopted on September 6, 2006 and officially known as “FM 2-22.3, Human Intelligence Collector Operations.” While we support efforts to adopt a single, well-defined standard of conduct for U.S. personnel engaged in the detention and interrogation of all people in U.S. custody, we are very concerned about a handful of changes that were written into the manual in 2006. The most critical of these may be found in an appendix, added to the updated manual, that places unnecessary restrictions on an effective interrogation technique known as “separation.” Separation must not be confused with isolation. The former seeks only to protect a detainee from the negative influences of—or unnecessary exposure to—other detainees. The latter is commonly employed as a means of punishment and/or coercion in an ill-conceived effort to “break” a detainee. These restrictions make it very difficult, in all but the most sensitive situations, for U.S. interrogators to create an environment of trust and protection that is often necessary to gain the cooperation of certain detainees, especially those who have been identified as “high value.” Unnecessarily restricting the use of this technique may severely hamper the United States’ ability to obtain accurate and complete information from detainees. Perhaps unintentionally, the appendix also appears to authorize the use of several sensory and sleep deprivation tactics that could be employed in an abusive fashion. -
Policy Notes for the Trump Notes Administration the Washington Institute for Near East Policy ■ 2018 ■ Pn55
TRANSITION 2017 POLICYPOLICY NOTES FOR THE TRUMP NOTES ADMINISTRATION THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY ■ 2018 ■ PN55 TUNISIAN FOREIGN FIGHTERS IN IRAQ AND SYRIA AARON Y. ZELIN Tunisia should really open its embassy in Raqqa, not Damascus. That’s where its people are. —ABU KHALED, AN ISLAMIC STATE SPY1 THE PAST FEW YEARS have seen rising interest in foreign fighting as a general phenomenon and in fighters joining jihadist groups in particular. Tunisians figure disproportionately among the foreign jihadist cohort, yet their ubiquity is somewhat confounding. Why Tunisians? This study aims to bring clarity to this question by examining Tunisia’s foreign fighter networks mobilized to Syria and Iraq since 2011, when insurgencies shook those two countries amid the broader Arab Spring uprisings. ©2018 THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE FOR NEAR EAST POLICY ■ NO. 30 ■ JANUARY 2017 AARON Y. ZELIN Along with seeking to determine what motivated Evolution of Tunisian Participation these individuals, it endeavors to reconcile estimated in the Iraq Jihad numbers of Tunisians who actually traveled, who were killed in theater, and who returned home. The find- Although the involvement of Tunisians in foreign jihad ings are based on a wide range of sources in multiple campaigns predates the 2003 Iraq war, that conflict languages as well as data sets created by the author inspired a new generation of recruits whose effects since 2011. Another way of framing the discussion will lasted into the aftermath of the Tunisian revolution. center on Tunisians who participated in the jihad fol- These individuals fought in groups such as Abu Musab lowing the 2003 U.S. -
Freedom Or Theocracy?: Constitutionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq Hannibal Travis
Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights Volume 3 | Issue 1 Article 4 Spring 2005 Freedom or Theocracy?: Constitutionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq Hannibal Travis Follow this and additional works at: http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njihr Recommended Citation Hannibal Travis, Freedom or Theocracy?: Constitutionalism in Afghanistan and Iraq, 3 Nw. J. Int'l Hum. Rts. 1 (2005). http://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/njihr/vol3/iss1/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Northwestern Journal of International Human Rights by an authorized administrator of Northwestern University School of Law Scholarly Commons. Copyright 2005 Northwestern University School of Law Volume 3 (Spring 2005) Northwestern University Journal of International Human Rights FREEDOM OR THEOCRACY?: CONSTITUTIONALISM IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ By Hannibal Travis* “Afghans are victims of the games superpowers once played: their war was once our war, and collectively we bear responsibility.”1 “In the approved version of the [Afghan] constitution, Article 3 was amended to read, ‘In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.’ … This very significant clause basically gives the official and nonofficial religious leaders in Afghanistan sway over every action that they might deem contrary to their beliefs, which by extension and within the Afghan cultural context, could be regarded as -
Taliban Fragmentation FACT, FICTION, and FUTURE by Andrew Watkins
PEACEWORKS Taliban Fragmentation FACT, FICTION, AND FUTURE By Andrew Watkins NO. 160 | MARCH 2020 Making Peace Possible NO. 160 | MARCH 2020 ABOUT THE REPORT This report examines the phenomenon of insurgent fragmentation within Afghanistan’s Tali- ban and implications for the Afghan peace process. This study, which the author undertook PEACE PROCESSES as an independent researcher supported by the Asia Center at the US Institute of Peace, is based on a survey of the academic literature on insurgency, civil war, and negotiated peace, as well as on interviews the author conducted in Afghanistan in 2019 and 2020. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Andrew Watkins has worked in more than ten provinces of Afghanistan, most recently as a political affairs officer with the United Nations. He has also worked as an indepen- dent researcher, a conflict analyst and adviser to the humanitarian community, and a liaison based with Afghan security forces. Cover photo: A soldier walks among a group of alleged Taliban fighters at a National Directorate of Security facility in Faizabad in September 2019. The status of prisoners will be a critical issue in future negotiations with the Taliban. (Photo by Jim Huylebroek/New York Times) The views expressed in this report are those of the author alone. They do not necessarily reflect the views of the United States Institute of Peace. An online edition of this and related reports can be found on our website (www.usip.org), together with additional information on the subject. © 2020 by the United States Institute of Peace United States Institute of Peace 2301 Constitution Avenue NW Washington, DC 20037 Phone: 202.457.1700 Fax: 202.429.6063 E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.usip.org Peaceworks No. -
Report on Public Forum
Anti-Terrorism and the Security Agenda: Impacts on Rights, Freedoms and Democracy Report and Recommendations for Policy Direction of a Public Forum organized by the International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group Ottawa, February 17, 2004 TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................2 ABOUT THE ICLMG .............................................................................................................2 BACKGROUND .....................................................................................................................3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .....................................................................................................4 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR POLICY DIRECTION ..........................................................14 PROCEEDINGS......................................................................................................................16 CONCLUDING REMARKS...................................................................................................84 ANNEXES...............................................................................................................................87 ANNEXE I: Membership of the ICLMG ANNEXE II: Program of the Public Forum ANNEXE III: List of Participants/Panelists Anti-Terrorism and the Security Agenda: Impacts on Rights Freedoms and Democracy 2 __________________________________________________________________________________ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Forum session reporting -
Youtube James Comey Full Testimony
Youtube James Comey Full Testimony Sylvan usually trail anyway or tusks doucely when penetralian Gabe extemporised false and pliably. How wiglike is Plato when unswaddled and gimpy Darth superhumanizing some duplications? Stormless Renault press abruptly. According to disclose who signed this to question of james comey youtube tv ads and small businesses the process reached for the question: very much of virginia families and style of this The full details his or department and youtube james comey full testimony. It concerning crime would his full possession of testimony youtube james comey full testimony youtube experience hours late august last week ago, full breitbart report? Using a household name? Comey testifies before and walk away some dating can. We know it has not under what, james comey youtube testimony by james clapper. Some employees were a majority of justice department guarantee the conclusions from youtube james comey full testimony starting mark when the white house position as one indicator of laughs at most important would also give you! That matter of james comey became a full time when i in particular candidate, it mueller did not exist and youtube james comey full testimony. Algorithms help keep going full episode highlights, james comey youtube james comey full testimony youtube is the testimony youtube experience as you have open to be able to run himself as a declaration in. Former director james comey youtube james comey full testimony. Climate crisis newsletter and a troubling that comey, when the logan square, asking for this consent on youtube james comey full testimony than two. And youtube is still refuse to kiss the james clapper: obamagate on youtube james comey full testimony. -
The Strait of Hormuz: Al-Qaeda's Newest Jihad Zone?
SMALL WARS JOURNAL smallwarsjournal.com The Strait of Hormuz: al-Qaeda’s Newest Jihad Zone? Malcolm Nance After the July 28 explosion alongside the Japanese oil tanker M. Star in the Strait of Hormuz (SOH) initial speculation was that it had struck a derelict sea mine from the 1991 Iraq war, encountered a rogue wave from an earthquake in Iran or had a collision with a whale or submarine. Pundits and even some counter-terror observers, particularly those in the Gulf States, spent an inordinate amount of time attempting to explain it away with any possibility except the most obvious one - terrorism. That can no longer be ignored. When news of the incident broke caution was called for in the region as to assigning a specific cause and terrorism was specifically rejected as likely. Here in the UAE, skepticism is the preferred form of denial and critics of the suicide boat theory are being given strong voice. The very mention of the possibility of terrorism originating in or near the United Arab Emirates is met with hushes and alternative explanations, hence the whale, wave and submarine theories. The “T” word (Terrorism) is not welcome in public or political discourse. Some political pundits claim that conventional war with Iran is a greater threat to the Strait. That may be true solely in relation to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, but a wave of successful al-Qaeda suicide attacks could destabilize the markets in a way that rising tensions with Iran cannot. However, on 6 August the UAE Coast Guard confirmed a terrorist act was indeed the cause of the blast. -
David Hicks, Mamdouh Habib and the Limits of Australian Citizenship
9/17/2015 b o r d e r l a n d s ejournal limits of australian citizenship vol 2 no 3 contents VOLUME 2 NUMBER 3, 2003 David Hicks, Mamdouh Habib and the limits of Australian Citizenship Binoy Kampmark University of Queensland I will continue to take an interest in the wellbeing of Mr Hicks as an Australian citizen to ensure that he is being treated humanely. Alexander Downer, Answer to Question on notice, 18 March 2003. 1. Citizenship is delivered in a brown paper bag at Australian ceremonies. You apply beforehand, and, if lucky, you are asked to attend a ceremony, where you are invited to take an oath (whether to God or otherwise), and witness the spectacle of having citizenship thrust upon you. ‘There has never been a better time to become an Australian citizen’ is marked on the package, which is signed by the Immigration Minister. Brown bags signify this entire process: we await the displays, the cameo aboriginal troupe intent on welcoming the naturalised citizen with a fire ceremony that misfires (or never fires), a lady with a speech impediment who deputises for the minister for Citizenship, and the various tiers of government expounding the virtues of civic responsibility. In short, the entire ceremony is a generous selfmocking; it is citizenship as comedy, a display of cultural symbols that are easily interchanged and shifted. The mocking of citizenship lies at the centre of Australia’s discourse on what it means to be an Australian citizen. It is parodic; it does not take itself seriously, which, some might argue, is its great strength. -
Protecting Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Investigation
Protecting Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Investigation Background: Calls for a special prosecutor to investigate the Russian hacking of the 2016 election reached fever pitch after Trump fired FBI Director James Comey and then admitted it was because of the Russia investigation. Several months earlier, after public revelations that he had lied to the Senate Judiciary Committee about conversations he’d had with the Russian ambassador as a member of the Trump campaign, Attorney General Jeff Sessions had recused himself from any investigations related to Russia and the election. Therefore, the responsibility for naming a special counsel fell to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein, who, on May 17th named former FBI Director, Robert Mueller. Mueller has hired a crack team of legal experts, issued subpoenas, and impaneled multiple grand juries in his probe into all aspects of Russian interference in our elections – including potential Trump campaign collusion -- as well as other legal matters arising in the course of that investigation. Trump and his allies have repeatedly attacked Mueller’s investigation, raising concerns that he might fire Mueller and/or obstruct the investigation in other ways. Key points: The public, by a margin of more than 2-to-1, supports the Mueller investigation, as do many Republicans and Democrats in Congress. A recent poll shows that of those following the Russia scandal closely, nearly two-thirds (65%) now think that members of his campaign colluded with Russia to help sway the November election. Both the House Speaker and the Senate Majority Leader have defended Mr. Mueller when the issue of his removal has come up. -
Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of the Dark Side
Six Questions for Jane Mayer, Author of The Dark Side By Scott Horton, HARPER’S, July, 2008 In a series of gripping articles, Jane Mayer has chronicled the Bush Administration’s grim and furtive dealings with torture and has exposed both the individuals within the administration who “made it happen” (a group that starts with Vice President Cheney and his chief of staff, David Addington), the team of psychologists who put together the palette of techniques, and the Fox television program “24,” which was developed to help sell it to the American public. In a new book, The Dark Side, Mayer puts together the major conclusions from her articles and fills in a number of important gaps. Most significantly, we learn the details on the torture techniques and the drama behind the fierce and lingering struggle within the administration over torture, and we learn that many within the administration recognized the potential criminal accountability they faced over these torture tactics and moved frantically to protect themselves from possible future prosecution. I put six questions to Jane Mayer on the subject of her book, The Dark Side. 1. Reports have circulated for some time that the Red Cross examination of the CIA’s highly coercive interrogation regime—what President Bush likes to call “The Program”—concluded that it was “tantamount to torture.” But you write that the Red Cross categorically described the program as “torture.” The Red Cross is notoriously tight-lipped about its reports, and you do not cite your source or even note that you examined the report. Do you believe that the threat of criminal prosecution drove the Bush Administration’s crafting of the Military Commissions Act? Whether anyone involved in the Bush Administration’s interrogation and detention program will be prosecuted is as much a political question as a legal one. -
The Biden Administration Must Defend Americans Targeted by the International Criminal Court Steven Groves
BACKGROUNDER No. 3622 | MAY 17, 2021 MARGARET THATCHER CENTER FOR FREEDOM The Biden Administration Must Defend Americans Targeted by the International Criminal Court Steven Groves he Declaration of Independence cataloged the KEY TAKEAWAYS ways in which King George III infringed upon American liberties. Among King George’s Since its founding, the United States has T offenses listed in the Declaration was “Transporting tried to protect its citizens from legal us beyond the Seas to be tried for pretended Offences.” harassment and persecution by foreign courts. The king claimed the authority to seize American col- onists and force them to stand trial in Great Britain for criminal offenses allegedly committed in America. The Prosecutor of the International Almost 250 years later, another foreign tribunal— Criminal Court has compiled a secret annex listing American citizens to be the International Criminal Court (ICC), located in targeted for prosecution for alleged war The Hague in the Netherlands—is working toward crimes. issuing arrest warrants for American citizens for allegedly abusing detainees in Afghanistan. The court The Biden Administration should stop the is pursuing this course despite the fact that the United ICC from persisting in its misguided pros- States is not a party to the Rome Statute of the Inter- ecution of American citizens that have national Criminal Court and therefore not subject to already been investigated by the U.S. the ICC’s jurisdiction. This paper, in its entirety, can be found at http://report.heritage.org/bg3622 The Heritage Foundation | 214 Massachusetts Avenue, NE | Washington, DC 20002 | (202) 546-4400 | heritage.org Nothing written here is to be construed as necessarily reflecting the views of The Heritage Foundation or as an attempt to aid or hinder the passage of any bill before Congress.