Terrorism

Padilla Judge’s Views Wavered

The decision to spare convicted terrorist Jose Padilla a life sentence came as a surprise to many. But a Miami Herald analysis indicates U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke of Miami waffled throughout the case. ”There were points during the trial when she said things that suggested she thought there was…

Jan 28, 2008 4:28 PM CST

Judge Requires Report on Destruction of Interrogation Tapes

A federal judge in Washington, D.C., has ordered the Bush administration to issue a written report explaining why videotapes of harsh interrogations of two terrorism suspects were destroyed. U.S. District Judge Richard Roberts said yesterday the report should disclose whether other evidence was also destroyed in violation of his order…

Jan 25, 2008 6:26 PM CST

White House Wins Procedural Victory on Wiretap Bill

Backers of a White House effort to extend the administration’s wiretap authority killed an alternate bill in the Senate yesterday that would have given a special court greater surveillance oversight. Now the Senate will consider an administration-backed bill that strengthens a National Security Agency program to wiretap conversations of overseas…

Jan 25, 2008 12:19 PM CST

Breyer: Court Must Balance Security and Civil Liberties

Justice Stephen G. Breyer told law students yesterday that the U.S. Supreme Court is the “border guard” protecting the line between security and civil liberties. Speaking at the University of Oklahoma College of Law, Breyer said justices have to strike a balance in cases such as the ones testing the…

Jan 25, 2008 12:04 PM CST

White House to Give Secret Wiretap Documents to House Committees

The Bush administration has agreed to turn over documents about its warrantless wiretap program to members of the House intelligence and judiciary committees. The president acted after some intelligence committee members said they wanted to see the documents before they would support immunity for telecommunications companies that aided the wiretap…

Jan 24, 2008 7:24 PM CST

Internet a Meeting Ground for Would-Be Militants and Accused Terrorists

Two men accused of shooting videos of the Capitol and other nearby sites in hopes they would impress terrorists were able to make contact through the Internet, according to details that emerged in pretrial hearings last week. The men, Georgia Tech engineering student Syed Haris Ahmed and his friend Ehsanul…

Jan 24, 2008 7:07 PM CST

Judge Lowers Padilla Sentence Because of Harsh Confinement

Updated: Jose Padilla, once accused of plotting to release a dirty bomb in the United States, has been sentenced to 17 years and four months in prison for conspiring to “murder, kidnap and maim” people overseas. The 37-year-old Padilla had been expected to get life in prison, the Miami Herald…

Jan 22, 2008 5:41 PM CST

Law Grad Writes Book on Fellow Muslims

Individuals Melody Moezzi contacted about publishing her first book wanted the Emory University law graduate to interview a terrorist. But for Moezzi, that was just one more reason to write the book she wanted to write, about ordinary young Muslims like herself for whom their religion is not and has…

Jan 18, 2008 6:12 PM CST

Judge May Subpoena CIA for Information on Destroyed Tapes

A federal judge in New York said yesterday that he is inclined against holding the CIA in contempt for failing to produce information about destroyed interrogation videotapes in a freedom of information lawsuit. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein said a contempt citation would serve no purpose other than to create…

Jan 18, 2008 12:20 PM CST

Ex-Rep Accused of Hiding Source of Payment in Terror Funding Case

A former Michigan congressman has been charged in connection with his ties to a Missouri group designated as a terrorist organization. Mark Siljander, who now runs a public relations firm called Global Strategies, is accused of accepting $50,000 to lobby Congress to keep the organization off the list of terrorist…

Jan 17, 2008 11:43 AM CST

Judge Orders Libya to Pay $6B for Plane Bombing

A federal judge has ordered Libya to pay more than $6 billion to the families of seven Americans killed in the 1989 bombing of a French plane. U.S. District Judge Henry Kennedy of Washington, D.C., said the judgment would compensate the families for the economic losses caused by the wrongful…

Jan 16, 2008 5:05 PM CST

CIA Clandestine Chief Believed He Had Tacit Approval to Destroy Tapes

The CIA official who headed the CIA’s clandestine operations division, Jose Rodriguez Jr., believed he had tacit approval to destroy two videotapes of harsh interrogations because he was never given an order to preserve them, the Washington Post reports. Rodriguez had been advised not to destroy the tapes but was…

Jan 16, 2008 2:08 PM CST

Acquitted Terror Prosecutor Seeks Legal Bill Reimbursement

A former federal prosecutor who was acquitted last fall on criminal charges that he withheld evidence favorable to four North African suspects in a high-profile 2003 Detroit terrorism trial is now seeking reimbursement of his personal defense costs. Richard Convertino contends that the Justice Department to pursue him in criminal…

Jan 15, 2008 7:39 PM CST

Ex-CIA Official Gets Reprieve, Continues Talks Over Tape Testimony

The House intelligence committee has withdrawn a demand for testimony on Wednesday from the CIA official who approved the destruction of two videotapes showing harsh interrogations. Lawmakers are negotiating with the official, Jose Rodriguez Jr., over his demand for immunity in exchange for his testimony, the Washington Post reports. The…

Jan 15, 2008 12:54 PM CST

Op-Ed Argues for Preventive Detention of Terrorism Suspects

The laws have been stretched to cover the case of Jose Padilla, paving the way for precedents that could allow government overreaching in garden-variety criminal cases, a former New Jersey attorney general argues in a New York Times op-ed. Padilla, at one time accused of plotting to detonate a dirty…

Jan 14, 2008 7:32 PM CST