Terrorism

CIA Detainees Declared Combatants

The Pentagon has declared that 14 “high value” CIA detainees transferred to Guantanamo are enemy combatants who may be tried by the tribunals there. Among the detainees are men suspected of planning the Sept. 11 attacks, the bombing of the USS Cole, and the bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya…

Aug 9, 2007 5:46 PM CDT

Legal Strategies Hinted in Terror Case

As courts in Trinidad and Brooklyn began initial proceedings against four men accused of plotting to blow up fuel tanks at Kennedy International Airport, hints of their legal strategies emerged. Lawyers for three suspects in Trinidad said they would appeal a judge’s order to extradite them to the United States,…

Aug 9, 2007 5:25 PM CDT

US Fights Varied Gitmo Legal Battles

The government is fighting Guantanamo legal battles on two fronts, trying to keep some detainees behind bars at the same time it is trying to force others to return to their native countries. In the case of Ahmed Belbacha, the government is opposing his effort to stop his transfer to…

Aug 9, 2007 3:35 PM CDT

ABA May Criticize Bush’s CIA Exec Order

A human rights lawyer is trumpeting a possible ABA resolution declaring that a July 20, 2007 executive order by President George W. Bush concerning the interrogation of U.S. prisoners is inconsistent with the Geneva Conventions. The proposed resolution, which is scheduled to be debated and voted on by the ABA…

Aug 8, 2007 10:17 PM CDT

UK to Accept 5 Gitmo Detainees

The British government has reversed course and asked for the return of five former U.K. residents being held at Guantanamo Bay. The New York Times says the Bush administration is likely to welcome the request, even though only one of the men has been cleared for release. The administration has…

Aug 7, 2007 12:38 PM CDT

Red Cross: U.S. Tortured Prisoners

American intelligence agents tortured terrorist suspects captured after Sept. 11 in secret foreign prisons for years, suspending the practice only after the U.S. Supreme Court declared it illegal in a ruling last summer, according to a magazine article that appears on newsstands today. In doing so, the Central Intelligence Agency…

Aug 6, 2007 7:58 PM CDT

No Legal Protection for Telecoms

A new law authorizing the government to wiretap foreign terrorism suspects without a warrant does not contain a provision protecting telecommunications companies from liability. The telecoms had sought protection from past suits that had claimed the companies violated customer privacy by cooperating with the government spying program, the Wall Street…

Aug 6, 2007 4:32 PM CDT

Bush Signs Wiretap Law

President Bush has signed a law that allows the government to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails of terrorism suspects overseas without a warrant, even when the suspect is communicating with someone inside the United States. The attorney general and the director of national intelligence have the authority to approve…

Aug 6, 2007 10:40 AM CDT

Terror Suspect Mental Test Sought

The lawyer for a former air cargo worker accused in a terrorist plot at Kennedy International Airport has asked for an examination of his client’s “intellectual limitations.” The lawyer said suspect Russell Defreitas can’t read and has limited analytical abilities, the New York Times reports. Defreitas has been accused of…

Aug 3, 2007 1:33 PM CDT

DOJ Confession Didn’t Help Chiquita

Chiquita International Brands met with a top Justice Department official in April 2003 to disclose paying protection money to a Colombian paramilitary group on a U.S. list of terrorist organizations. Then the company waited for a response. And waited. The official was Michael Chertoff, sources told the Washington Post. At…

Aug 2, 2007 6:36 PM CDT

Expanded Wiretap Powers Proposed

Updated: Democrats have proposed temporary legislation to expand government powers to wiretap suspected foreign terrorists for the next six months. Currently, the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court approves wiretaps of foreign terrorism suspects who have conversations with people in the United States. The Democratic proposal would authorize the court to…

Aug 2, 2007 2:05 PM CDT

Gonzales Explains Testimony

U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has declined to alter his Senate testimony in a letter that defends his statements about the controversy surrounding surveillance programs. “I am deeply concerned with suggestions that my testimony was misleading and am determined to address any such impression,” Gonzales wrote in the letter to…

Aug 2, 2007 1:02 PM CDT

Broad Secret Spy Program Confirmed

The director of national intelligence revealed yesterday that President Bush issued an executive order after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks authorizing a wide range of secret surveillance activities. The letter makes clear that a warrantless terrorism surveillance program was just one aspect of the government’s surveillance activities, the Washington Post…

Aug 1, 2007 2:52 PM CDT

Padilla Case Wrapping Up

Defense lawyers for Jose Padilla don’t plan to call any witnesses. That means a Miami jury could soon begin deliberations in the trial of Padilla and two co-defendants, accused of aiding terrorist groups and conspiring to murder and maim people abroad. Six witnesses called by co-defendants since July 23 failed…

Aug 1, 2007 2:25 PM CDT

Guilty Plea in Mall Plot

A Somali has pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide material support to terrorists in a plot to blow up an Ohio shopping mall. Nuradin Abdi smiled and laughed with his lawyer before entering the guilty plea yesterday in Columbus federal court, reports the Columbus Dispatch. He is expected to receive…

Aug 1, 2007 1:53 PM CDT