RIGHTS-US: New Name, Same Detainee Problem

Human rights activists and constitutional law experts were virtually unanimous in their condemnation of the positions taken on prisoner detention and treatment in federal court last week by President Barack Obama’s Department of Justice, which one group described as "a case of old wine in new bottles."

RIGHTS-US: Profiling Still Plagues Muslim Communities

On the heels of a recent poll that found that American Muslims experience emotional turbulence due to the stereotypes and suspicion of Islam since the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, two major Muslim-American organisations issued scathing indictments of the tactics of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Department of Homeland Security.

U.S.: Military Dominance in Mideast Proven a Costly Myth

The arguments for maintaining a major U.S. combat force in Iraq at least through 2011, escalating U.S. military involvement in Afghanistan and assuming a confrontational stance toward Iran appear to assume that the United States remains the dominant military power in the region.

POLITICS-US: Senate Committee Weighs “Truth Commission”

In a preview of the heated divisions likely be triggered by the formation of a "truth commission" to investigate detainee interrogation, warrantless wiretapping and other alleged violations during the administration of President George W. Bush, witnesses before a Senate committee Wednesday characterised such a body as either a "profoundly bad idea" or "critically important to avoiding the mistakes of the past."

RIGHTS-US: Lawsuits Challenge Charity Blacklisting

In two court cases that could test the limits of the Barack Obama administration’s executive authority as well as its commitment to transparency, human rights lawyers are challenging the government’s right to use information obtained through warrantless wiretapping as evidence and to shut down charitable organisations without allowing them to defend themselves.

RIGHTS-US: El-Marri Lawyers Seek Supreme Court Review

Lawyers for imprisoned "enemy combatant" Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri are vowing to press the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their case even though al-Marri was suddenly transferred to the civilian justice system after more than five years in solitary confinement in a military brig.

RIGHTS: Britain Admits Complicity in U.S. Rendition

In a stunning reversal, Britain’s government admitted Wednesday that it participated in the ‘extraordinary rendition’ to Afghanistan of two terror suspects captured in Iraq.

PAKISTAN: Time Running Out to Restore Stability – U.S. Report

The United States and its allies must act urgently to prevent Pakistan - the only predominantly Muslim nation with nuclear weapons - from descending into a spiral of economic, security, and political crises, according to a new report released here by an influential think tank.

POLITICS: Many Muslims Reject Terror Tactics, Back Some Goals

Strong majorities of people in predominantly Muslim countries reject terrorism but support key goals of Al Qaeda, notably expelling U.S. military forces from the Islamic world, according to a major new study of public opinion in seven nations and the Palestinian territories released here Wednesday.

RIGHTS-US: What About Bagram?

While human rights and legal advocacy groups applauded President Barack Obama’s decision to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay within a year, many immediately raised another thorny question: "What about Bagram?"

U.S.: Report Contradicts Govt Claims of “Humane” Detention

A leading human rights organisation charges that contrary to recent U.S. government reports that found prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba being treated humanely, they are in fact "deteriorating at a rapid rate" due to "harsh conditions that continue to this day, despite a few cosmetic changes to their routines."

U.S.: Calls Mount for Obama to Appoint “Truth Commission”

Eighteen U.S. human rights groups Thursday joined a former director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and a retired top diplomat in calling on President Barack Obama to appoint a non-partisan commission of leading citizens to examine and report on the treatment of detainees held by the United States during President George W. Bush's "global war on terror."

RIGHTS-US: Court Passes the Buck on Fate of Chinese Muslims

As U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder prepared for his first trip to the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, next week, human rights advocates suffered a stinging defeat when a federal appeals court ruled that 17 Chinese Muslims scheduled for release from the Caribbean detention centre could not enter the U.S. and must remain in custody.

POLITICS-US: Democrats Divided Over "Reckoning" for Bush

With growing public support for a public investigation of crimes that may have been committed by the administration of former president George W. Bush in waging its "global war on terror", policy makers and legal experts are deeply divided on how to proceed - and President Barack Obama seems ambivalent about whether to proceed at all.

BOOKS: Was Bush Doctrine Just a Little Bit of History Repeating?

Was the foreign policy of George W. Bush an aberration in U.S. history, a turn away from the traditional guiding principles of U.S. foreign policy towards messianic ambitions of permanent supremacy and universal democracy?

RIGHTS-US: Lawsuit Sheds More Light on Terror War Abuses

Three human rights groups have released documents that they say reveal close cooperation between the U.S. Defence Department and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in rendering terrorism suspects to secret prisons, creating 'ghost prisoners' by concealing their identities from the Red Cross, and delaying their release to counter negative publicity about their treatment at Guántanamo Bay.

RIGHTS-US: Rendition Case Enters “Bizarre” Realms of Secrecy

A prominent British-American lawyer who represents an Ethiopian-born Guantanamo detainee is charging that U.S. Defence Department officials are intentionally concealing evidence of his client's rendition and torture from President Barack Obama.

RIGHTS-US: “State Secrets” Privilege Not Gone with Bush

President Barack Obama has cast doubt on his promise to put an end to secret government by allowing his Justice Department to follow a path frequently taken by his predecessor.

RIGHTS-US: The Children of Guantanamo

Legal experts and human rights advocates are challenging the public to remember Guantanamo's "child soldiers" when the detainees there are characterised as "the worst of the worst".

RIGHTS-US: Indefinite Detention Case to Test Obama’s Pledges

In what promises to be the first major test of the Barack Obama administration's new approach to the rule of law, the Supreme Court will soon hear what could be one of the most consequential cases in U.S. history.

U.S.: More Troops, More Worries, Less Consensus on Afghanistan

Even as U.S. President Barack Obama prepares to deploy more military forces to Afghanistan - what he has called "the central front" in former President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" - a consensus on overall U.S. strategy there remains elusive.