Jessica Schimmel

Christmas bomber muddles plans to close Guantanamo

The so-called Christmas bomber has complicated U.S. plans to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay by the end of the month. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, based in Yemen, has claimed responsibility for the attempted bombing of...

Obama lays out Afghanistan plan

Tonight President Barack Obama announced that he has authorized the deployment of 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan in the next six months, which will bring the total number of American troops to 98,000. He also issued a timetable...

Karzai named president in Afghanistan after Abdullah pulls out of run-off election

Afghanistan’s presidential contender, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out of the two-man run-off election against incumbent President Hamid Karzai on Sunday, saying that corruption and rampant electoral fraud would prohibit a fair election. “I felt that it...

House of Reps votes to prohibit Guantanamo detainees from being transfered to US

Last week, the U.S. House of Representatives voted to forbid any detainee from Guantánamo Bay prison from being transferred to the United States for either prosecution or continued detention. The measure, sponsored by Representative Hal Rogers...

Command responsibility and criminal liability for CIA interrogation tactics

The Attorney-General Eric Holder recently opened a preliminary investigation into CIA interrogation tactics used on detainees in Guantanamo and other US-run prisons around the world. These tactics were torture-like, and included "suggestions about sexually assaulting members...

Attorney-General opens investigation into CIA torture

Today the Justice Department (DOJ) released a revised version of a 2004 CIA report regarding abuses against detainees in secret prisons overseas run by the CIA. The report states that interrogators used torture-like tactics, "including suggestions about sexually...

Election day in Afghanistan

Election day in Afghanistan is tomorrow. After being delayed once for security concerns, tomorrow’s event is still marred with threats from the Taliban. This week has seen several suicide bombings and rocket attacks and the Taliban are...

Rape as a weapon of war in the Congo

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's recent trip to seven African nations highlighted the emphasis the Obama administration is putting on US foreign policy with African nations. Earlier in the week, Clinton spoke to survivors of sexual violence in the...

Geneva Conventions 60th anniversary: relevant and dynamic

Yesterday was the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Conventions - the laws of war - which many people simultaneously take for granted and believe to be outdated. Born out of the horrors of World War II, the modern Geneva...

US crack down on Afghan opium

New United States counternarcotics policies are striking out at the Taliban's primary source of funding. Ninety-three percent of the world's opium - the raw ingredient in heroin - is grown in the poppy fields of Afghanistan. The Central Intelligence...

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