POLITICS-US: Obama Defends Guantanamo Closure

President Barack Obama cautiously minced his way Thursday through a political minefield filled with imminent explosions from human rights advocates, national security hawks, and a Congress terrified by the potential political backlash of any move to bring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the U.S. for trial or detention.

RIGHTS-US: Special ‘Terror’ Courts Worry Legal Experts

The administration of President Barack Obama is considering the creation of a national security court to try cases in which there is enough reliable intelligence to hold a foreign terrorism suspect in preventive detention, but not enough to bring a case in federal court or even through military commissions.

POLITICS-US: Pelosi-CIA Contretemps May Spark Wider Probe

Congressional Democrats and many Washington journalists are predicting that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's current dispute with the Central Intelligence Agency may ultimately hasten the push toward the last thing Republicans want - a comprehensive investigation of prisoner detention and interrogation during the administration of former President George W. Bush.

U.S.: Lawyers, Rights Groups Outraged by Gitmo Decision

Human rights advocates are furious at President Barack Obama’s decision to prosecute some Guantanamo detainees through the same military commissions he criticised during his campaign as a "flawed" system that "has failed to convict anyone of a terrorist act since the 9/11 attacks".

POLITICS-US: Rights Groups Slam Bid to Suppress Abuse Pics

President Barack Obama’s decision Wednesday to object to the planned release of photos showing abuse of prisoners in U.S. custody in Iraq and Afghanistan has drawn quiet praise from the military and some in Congress – and outspoken scorn from human rights advocates, a number of legal scholars and religious leaders, and many on the left of his Democratic Party.

RIGHTS-US: Senate Panel Probes Legality of Torture Memos

"An ethical train wreck" was the phrase used by one witness to describe the legal reasoning behind the Justice Department’s recently released memos justifying the use of waterboarding and other forms of "enhanced interrogation techniques".

POLITICS-US: Back to Military Commissions?

Human rights advocates and legal scholars fear that the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama may resurrect the military commissions designed by his predecessor to try Guantanamo detainees after Obama’s 120-day moratorium on proceedings expires on May 20.

POLITICS-US: Congress Resists Guantanamo Transfers

As lawmakers amped up the outcry against releasing Guantanamo "terrorists in our neighbourhoods", France agreed to accept a "cleared" Guantanamo prisoner and human rights groups continued to press for release of 17 Chinese Uigurs who the U.S. government has declared to be no threat to national security.

RIGHTS-US: Lawmakers Try to Block New Abuse Photos

Civil libertarians are condemning a call by two influential U.S. senators for the White House to block the impending release of photographs showing detainees being abused by U.S. military personnel at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq and at other U.S. detention facilities in the Middle East and elsewhere.

RIGHTS-US: Psychologists Under Fire for Role in Interrogations

A leading human rights organisation is charging that an American Psychological Association (APA) task force formed to advise the U.S. military on prisoner interrogations was "stacked with Defence Department and [George W.] Bush Administration officials" and "rushed to conclusions that violated the Geneva Convention."

POLITICS-US: Unwieldy Terror Watchlist Hits a Million

Hundreds of thousands of people are being wrongly identified because of the government’s wasteful and inefficient management of the nation’s one million-strong terrorist watchlist, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

RIGHTS-US: Obama Considers Revamping Military Trials

Reports circulating in Washington suggest that President Barack Obama may try to revive the military commission system for prosecuting Guantánamo detainees, which Obama himself criticised during the administration of his predecessor, former President George W. Bush.

RIGHTS: Britain Tries to Block CIA Rendition Case

British High Court judges are expected to rule this week on whether a document by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency can be publicly disclosed, thus opening the courthouse door to a lawsuit charging that the British government was complicit in facilitating the rendition of a British resident by the CIA, which tortured and secretly imprisoned him at Guantánamo Bay.

POLITICS-US: Obama’s Uighur Problem

The probability that some Guantanamo detainees will soon be released into the U.S. will place the administration of President Barack Obama in the eye of a major political hurricane.

POLITICS-US: Rights Groups Still Waiting for Obama to Deliver

While human rights and open-government groups are generally pleased with President Barack Obama’s rhetoric during his first 100 days, some are sceptical that he will deliver on his promises.

RIGHTS-US: Calls for Torture Inquiry Aren’t Going Away

A coalition of 19 human rights, faith-based and justice organisations is calling on President Barack Obama to investigate torture they charge was sanctioned by the administration of former President George W. Bush.

RIGHTS-US: Court Reins in "State Secrets" Privilege

In what may become a landmark decision, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that the "state secrets privilege" – routinely used by the government to block lawsuits against its officials – can only be used to contest specific evidence, but not to dismiss an entire suit.

RIGHTS-US: Bracing for New Prisoner Abuse Photos

This Tuesday, Apr. 28, will mark five years since the world got its first look at the sickening photographs from Abu Ghraib on the U.S. television programme "60 Minutes."

RIGHTS-US: Dozens of CIA “Ghost Prisoners” Missing

At least three dozen detainees who were held in the CIA's secret prisons overseas appear to be missing – and efforts by human rights organisations to track their whereabouts have been unsuccessful.

RIGHTS-US: Courts Overrule Govt in Abuse and Detention Cases

As the debate heats up over what to do about recent disclosures of widespread abuse of war-on-terror prisoners, the "third branch" of the U.S. government – the judiciary - continues to assert its independence from the other two branches – the executive and the legislative.

POLITICS-US: Overcoming Toxic Legacy of Bush-Style Democracy

A massive overhaul of U.S. development assistance is needed, says a new report from an influential Washington think tank.