detainees

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Obama: Gitmo Made Us Less Safe

(Newser) - Standing in front of the Constitution, President Obama today delivered a watershed speech on terrorism, arguing that President Bush’s approach to war was, “quite simply, a mess.” He outlined his plan to clean up, saying he’ll try Guantanamo detainees in both federal court and military commissions...

If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60
If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60
OPINION

If You Care About Freedom, Free the Gitmo 60

(Newser) - About 60 of the inmates at Guantanamo haven't committed any crime. The courts cleared them of all charges, and the military declared them not dangerous. Yet they’re entering their eighth year in custody, because Congress apparently doesn’t give a damn, Sabin Willett writes in the New York Daily ...

Dems Won't Fund Gitmo Closing
 Dems Won't Fund Gitmo Closing 

Dems Won't Fund Gitmo Closing

(Newser) - President Obama's allies in the Senate will not provide funds to close the Guantanamo Bay prison by January, a top Democratic official said today. With debate looming on Obama's spending request to cover military and diplomatic operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the official says Democrats will deny the Pentagon...

4th Grader Grills Condi on Torture
4th Grader
Grills Condi
on Torture

4th Grader Grills Condi on Torture

We were terrified by 9/11 but did nothing illegal, Rice says

(Newser) - A fourth grader took Condoleezza Rice to task on torture yesterday, asking her about President Obama's criticism of "methods" used by the Bush administration. The question— drafted with the help of teachers—was toned down from what the student originally planned to say, the Washington Post notes. The child...

Shrink Waterboard 'Experts' Racked Up $1K a Day

Operation's architects lacked training in conducting interrogations, say CIS records

(Newser) - Two US psychologists with no training in conducting interrogations boasted of earning $1000 a day designing and helping to implement use of waterboarding techniques on CIA detainees, reports ABC News. Bruce Jessen and Jim Mitchell, former military officers, are considered the architects of the interrogation operation that Barack Obama has...

US 'Close' on Fate of Gitmo Prisoners

First group may be released to Va.

(Newser) - The US is close to deciding whether to free an initial group of Guantanamo detainees, AP reports. Attorney General Eric Holder didn't specify how long it would be before Gitmo closes, but said he must first determine how many prisoners will be released or tried. "We're doing these all...

Waterboarding Isn't Easier 2nd Time, or 183rd
Waterboarding Isn't Easier 2nd Time, or 183rd
ANALYSIS

Waterboarding Isn't Easier 2nd Time, or 183rd

Turns out the body never gets used to simulated drowning

(Newser) - Like many other forms of torture, waterboarding doesn’t get any easier with repeated exposure. After multiple sessions of the simulated drowning technique, accused al-Qaeda plotters Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Abu Zubaydah would at best have been able to slightly modify their response, explains Brian Palmer in Slate. The experience...

US Used Mentally Ill Witness at Gitmo

Detainee with antisocial personality disorder testified against others

(Newser) - Justice Department lawyers withheld records detailing the mental illness of a witness used against numerous fellow Guantanamo detainees, McClatchy Newspapers report. "How can this court have any confidence whatsoever in the United States government to comply with its obligations and to be truthful?" asked a federal judge, who ruled...

Yemen Is New Haven for al-Qaeda
Yemen Is
New Haven
for al-Qaeda

Yemen Is New Haven for al-Qaeda

Group's numbers likely to see boost from freed Gitmo inmates

(Newser) - As the US prepares to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Yemen presents a problem: Despite government efforts, the country is becoming a safe haven for al-Qaeda operatives, the Economist reports. Rebuffed by anti-terror initiatives in Saudi Arabia and Iraq, jihadists have flocked to Yemen, where rugged countryside, weak...

Gitmo Was Actually Humane —Until Rumsfeld Took Over

Camp's ills began when Rumsfeld weighed in

(Newser) - If Guantanamo Bay has become a symbol of torture, a place where prisoners' screams echo in our national psyche, it wasn’t always so, writes Karen Greenberg in the Washington Post. Though told the Geneva Conventions wouldn't technically apply, the military officials who set up the camp skirted Bush administration...

Obama's Gitmo Order Isn't What It Seems
Obama's Gitmo Order Isn't
What It Seems
ANALYSIS

Obama's Gitmo Order Isn't What It Seems

Experts see potential loopholes, gray areas in revised policies

(Newser) - With a stroke of the pen, President Obama rewrote American detention and interrogation policy yesterday. Or not, writes Josh Gerstein for Politico. He offers reasons not to overstate Obama’s policy changes:
  • "Everyone has to follow the Army Field Manual—for now…": Obama is convening a group to
...

China Detains 59 in Tibet for 'Spreading Hate'

Activists accused of targeting ethnic Han migrants via music

(Newser) - Chinese police have arrested 59 people in Tibet for downloading and selling banned “reactionary songs” they say fuel ethnic hatred against migrant Han Chinese, the New York Times reports. The detainees are accused of collaborating with the exiled Dalai Lama to fuel unrest in the troubled region. State media...

EU Considers Taking Gitmo Prisoners
EU Considers Taking Gitmo Prisoners

EU Considers Taking Gitmo Prisoners

Allies offer to help Obama 'clean up Bush's mess'

(Newser) - European Union countries are considering giving Barack Obama a helping hand by accepting released Guantanamo Bay prisoners for resettlement, the Washington Post reports. Requests from the Bush administration to take Gitmo detainees were flatly rejected by the EU, but Portugal has now signaled its willingness to accept some prisoners and...

Pentagon Warned: Prepare to Shut Gitmo

Dilemma is what to do with worst inmates

(Newser) - The Pentagon has been ordered by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to draw up plans to be prepared to close the Guantanamo Bay detention center soon after President-elect Obama takes office, reports the Voice of America. The immediate problem is what to do with prisoners who likely can't be convicted in...

Bands Blast Blaring 'Music Torture' at Gitmo

Campaign against use of rock to break war prisoners

(Newser) - Rock musicians are banding together to protest use of their music—played loudly and incessantly—to torture war prisoners. US interrogators have bragged about breaking detainees by endlessly playing the same pulsating music for months. "Plenty lost their minds"—not just to Eminem, but Sesame Street songs and...

US Moves to Boost Cases Against Key Iraqi Detainees

Accord will shift jurisdiction to Baghdad, and officials want evidence to stand up in trial

(Newser) - The US military has begun assembling evidence against 5,000 Iraqi detainees it deems most dangerous, USA Today reports, hoping to file charges that will stand up in court once Baghdad gains legal jurisdiction. Some 15,800 detainees remain in military custody, but when the Status of Forces Agreement kicks...

Art Classes Coming to Gitmo
 Art Classes Coming to Gitmo 

Art Classes Coming to Gitmo

Prison camp staff will offer more activities to distract detainees

(Newser) - Art class at Guantanamo Bay? Yes, it's in the works—along with geology class, Game Boys, access to newspapers, and more movie nights. The prison staff wants to keep prisoners "stimulated," Guantanamo's cultural adviser told the Miami Herald. "Once they are engaged and busy, they leave the...

Obama to Close Gitmo, Try Detainees

But plan could be controversial

(Newser) - President-elect Obama's advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the US to face criminal trials. The plan would make good on his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay prison but could require creation of a controversial new system of justice....

Gitmo Detainees Begin Court Challenge

Six Algerian prisoners are first to contest detention by US

(Newser) - A federal judge opened the first habeas corpus hearing for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay yesterday, five months after the Supreme Court ruled that they may challenge their detention in court. The judge closed the court after opening statements were made, saying that the evidence was classified, the New York Times...

Crew Still 'Jailed' Year After SF Bay Spill

Chinese witnesses fight to return to families

(Newser) - Six crew members from the ship crash that caused San Francisco Bay’s largest oil spill in 20 years remain detained a year later, unable to return to families in China. Though they live rent-free in San Francisco, get $1,200 monthly plus their salaries, and are free to roam,...

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