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Archive for the ‘Afghanistan’ Category

The Pentagon has freshly updated and made available to the public a cartload of Military Commissions materials. Earlier this month we noted that the site hadn’t been updated for several months. That’s been remedied. On the site are:

Rules of Practice for the Court of Military Commission and Review

After a very quick perusal, [...]

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You might recall my post back in March about IslamTube entitled “IslamTube: Snipers and Destruction.” Bottom line, IslamTube back then (hold on before you excoriate me for not updating my sources) featured such crowd-pleasers as videos of jihadists blowing up Coalition forces, and Zawahiri tapes–much unlike the cheery GodTube.
Well, turns out somebody has now [...]

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The President yesterday signed an Executive Order, entitled “Interpretation of the Geneva Conventions Common Article 3 as Applied to a Program of Detention and Interrogation Operated by the Central Intelligence Agency.”
The White House Press release is HERE, and the full text of the Executive Order follows below my brief analysis.
Note that the Military Commissions Act [...]

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So reports the AP: “Senior administration officials said Thursday a consensus is building for a proposal to shut the center and transfer detainees to one or more Defense Department facilities, including the maximum-security military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., where they could face trial.” Three senior admininistration officials spoke of ongoing discussions on the [...]

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Scott Horton, from Columbia Law School, testified on Tuesday in front of the House Judiciary Committee in support of H.R. 369, the Transparency and Accountability in Security Contracting Act. The link to the bill’s text and other bill info at Thomas is HERE. Professor Horton’s full testimony is up over at Balkinization.
Bottom line, [...]

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The 4th Circuit today released its opinion in Al-Marri v. Berman, No. 06-7427. Fuller analysis later, but here is the opinion. Until then, it’s the usual suspects–citation of Quirin, Ex Parte Milligan, etc. The opinion limits the habeas-stripping provisions of the Military Commissions Act (MCA), holding that “As an alien captured and [...]

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 [UPDATE: On 29 June 2007, COL Brownback denied the government's reconsideration motion on the Khadr case.  Story HERE.]
We’ve discussed both the Khadr and Hamdan cases previously here, here, and here, and just yesterday a very significant development has sprung itself on us. On Monday 4 Jun 07, the military judges of both cases (CAPT Keith [...]

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[UPDATE: 29 June 07, SCOTUS reconsidered and reversed itself, granting cert in the Hamdan case. Story HERE.]
Have been busy at work and unable to post, but the news keeps coming.
If you haven’t seen, SCOTUS this past Monday turned down both the Hamdan and Khadr certiorari petitions (Hamdan v. Gates/Khadr v. Bush (06-1169)). [...]

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Today the Supreme Court holds a private conference on the Hamdan and Khadr cases to determine whether to grant cert in those cases. The Khadr reply brief may be found here; it consists of some dense legal argument detailing just why habeas corpus historically did not apply only to citizens of the sovereign. [...]

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New York Times reports that the V-22 Osprey is finally heading into combat in Iraq in September 2007.  The $80 million apiece aircraft twice as fast, three-times the payload as the dual-blade CH-46 helicopters they replace, but less maneuverable than helicopters at the slow speeds needed to deploy troops on the ground and takeoff.  The [...]

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Afghan Child
Originally uploaded by H Lime.
The image of this child has long haunted me. He was, essentially, living on the steps of the King’s Tomb in Kabul, Afghanistan. This seemed to be his home and his bed. There was snow on the ground, and on the high ground of the hill where the Tomb [...]

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For those of you who’ve read and loved The Kite Runner, as I have, here’s a pictoral essay in Wired about kiterunning. Note the bandaged finger–yes, the glass-encrusted or wire strings cut the fingers, and that’s really what it’s all about. Read the essay and, if you haven’t already, run out and get [...]

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