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...
Gen. Odierno: Iraq Elections Key to US Pullout
While President Barack Obama has already pledged that the United States will "responsibly leave Iraq to its people," and is planning to ask the military to draft a plan to get troops out in 16 months, but comments from General Ray Odierno, the top US commander in...
United Nations Security Council to Press Israel on Gaza School Attacks
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has demanded a full explanation from Israel regarding its attacks on UN schools and other facilities during the 22-day war in the Gaza Strip, which he called "outrageous." After the statement by Secretary General Ban, the...
Obama Drafts Order to Close Gitmo
President Obama will reportedly sign a new executive order calling for the detention center at Guantanamo Bay to be closed within a year, and will also halt the war crimes trials in the meantime. It remains unclear when he will sign the draft, however. The draft says...
Israeli High Court Overturns Ban on Arab Parties
The Israeli High Court of Justice today overturned the Knesset(Israeli Parliament)'s attempt to ban the two Arab political parties with Knesset representation from contesting next month's elections. The decision was unanimous in favor of lifting the ban on the United...