The Sri Lankan military continues to press its advantage in the long-standing conflict against the separatist north, and while they seem to be gaining considerable momentum, an increasingly bloody military victory seems likely to complicate attempts to quiet the...
The Guantánamo Challenge
Even if President Obama's order to close the prison camp at Guantanamo Bay will have at best a superficial effect on America's detention program, the news of its eventual closure was greeted by a worldwide expression of relief. In another year, one of America's most...
Obama Promises US ‘Will Not Torture’ Detainees
Promising that "a new era of American leadership is at hand," President Barack Obama has promised that the United States "will not torture" detainees. A series of presidential orders will outlaw rendition flights, order the closings of the CIA's "black sites," and...
Two Days After Inauguration: Is Obama’s Iraq Timetable Already Dead?
As recently as yesterday, Obama aides were treating the president's campaign promise for a 16-month timetable to withdraw from Iraq as a working plan. It didn't take long for what many voters assumed was a firm commitment to become, in the parlance of the previous...
UN Expert: Compelling Evidence of Israeli War Crimes in Gaza
UN human rights expert and retired Princeton law professor Richard Falk said today that there is compelling evidence that Israel violated the laws of war by "conducting a large-scale military operation against an essentially defenseless population." "There needs to be...
Thousands of Others Waiting for Israeli Explanations on Gaza Attacks
The United Nations is pressuring Israel for a more plausible explanation for why so many of their facilities were attacked during the 22-day war on the Gaza Strip. Those attacks caused scores of civilian casualties, just some of the thousands of civilians killed and...
Gitmo: The Facility Will (Eventually) Close, But the Detentions Will Continue
Updated 1/22/09 12:00 PM EST A newly drafted executive order signed by President Barack Obama will fulfill a campaign promise to close the detention center at Guantanamo Bay. The order will require the facility to close within a year. The facility where detainees were...
Kosovo Launches Its Own Military
Kosovo officially launched its new military, the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) to replace the civilian Kosovar Protection Service, which was made up chiefly of separatists from the 1998-99 war against the Serbian government. NATO will support the recruitment drive for...
Karzai Presses NATO for More Control Over Operations
Yesterday, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told lawmakers that his government had sent a draft agreement to NATO headquarters, designed to give him more control over future NATO deployments. Among other things, the agreement would bar NATO forces from searching Afghan...
Obama Asks Military For ‘Responsible’ Iraq Pullout Plan
President Barack Obama met with top military commanders today to get a full update on the situation in Iraq and to ask them to begin drawing up an Iraq exit strategy. "I asked the military leadership to engage in additional planning necessary to execute a responsible...