POLITICS-US: Interrogators for Hire

Just an hour north of the Mexican border, at the base of the cloud-capped Huachuca Mountains, sits a military base with a long history of covert military action.

POLITICS: Uncle Sam Really, Really Wants You…

A couple of months ago, Kim Rosario found an improbable e-mail message in her Monster.com inbox.

RIGHTS: Rendition, or Outsourcing Torture?

The Centre for Constitutional Rights (CCR), a major advocacy group, has filed the first challenge to "rendition", known by critics as "outsourcing torture", a practice used by U.S. intelligence agencies to deliver detainees to prisons in countries known to practice abuse.

POLITICS: Distrust Festers Between U.S. Muslims, Intel Agencies

An institutional climate of "Islamophobia" and wariness among many U.S. Arabs and Muslims of the federal government are proving to be substantial barriers to recruiting Arabic speakers into the United States' counter-terrorism agencies, observers say.

RIGHTS-US: Bail Denied in "Rendition" Terror Case

Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, a U.S. citizen accused of plotting with al-Qaeda to assassinate Pres. George W. Bush, will remain in jail pending trial.

RIGHTS-US: Rumsfeld Sued Over Torture in Iraq and Afghanistan

Two major U.S. human rights groups Tuesday filed a lawsuit in federal court in Chicago against Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on behalf of eight named Afghan and Iraqi plaintiffs who say they were tortured and abused while in the custody of the U.S. military.

RIGHTS-US: Scepticism Over Renewed Military Ties With Indonesia

The State Department's decision to renew military training for Indonesia - a major step toward full normalisation of military ties between the United States and the giant archipelago - has been greeted with scepticism by human rights groups and some lawmakers critical of Jakarta's record.

RIGHTS-US: State Department Report Assails Usual Suspects

Releasing the latest edition of its annual human rights "Country Reports", the U.S. State Department Monday hailed the progress it said had been achieved over the past year in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Ukraine.

POLITICS-US: Senator Seeks to Curb Controversial “Patriot Act”

Senator Russ Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, is on a collision course with President George W. Bush over how much leeway should be given to intelligence agencies and law enforcement to wage their "war on terror".

POLITICS-US: "Anti-Islamist" Crusader Plants New Seeds

Despite the apparent decision by President George W. Bush against re-nominating him to the board of the United States Institute of Peace (USIP), "anti-Islamist" activist Daniel Pipes is working as diligently as ever to protect the United States and the Western world from the influence of radical Islamists.

RIGHTS-US: Student in "Rendition" Case Brought Home for Trial

Even as defence attorneys were filing court papers charging that the U.S. government was hiding behind secret evidence, and demanding their client's release from a Saudi Arabian prison, Ahmed Abu Ali was being whisked back to the United States and charged with conspiring to kill Pres. George W. Bush.

RIGHTS-US: Sentence First, Verdict Afterwards?

Civil libertarians are wondering if the new U.S. attorney-general, Alberto Gonzales, will continue one of the trademarks of his predecessor, John Ashcroft: razzle-dazzle news conferences announcing the arrests of terrorists, followed by trials in which no one is charged or tried for any terror-related offences.

RIGHTS-US: Requiem for an American Dream

Harsh U.S. immigration and anti-terrorism laws have had a devastating effect on many Muslim communities in the U.S., leaving a legacy of fear and disillusionment, especially among young people, Asian activists said Thursday.

RIGHTS-US: Requiem for an American Dream

Harsh immigration and anti-terrorism laws have had a devastating effect on many Muslim communities in the U.S., leaving a legacy of fear and disillusionment, especially among young people, Asian activists said Thursday.

RIGHTS-US: "Rendition" Case Takes a New Twist

The U.S. Department of Justice may make legal history in seeking to dismiss a lawsuit on behalf of a U.S. citizen being held in Saudi Arabia without publicly disclosing its reasons, citing an "extraordinarily high" government interest in protecting national security issues in the case.

POLITICS-U.S.: Iran War Drums Beat Harder

Despite the Bush administration's insistence that, at least for now, it remains committed to using diplomatic means to halt Iran's alleged nuclear weapons programme, war drums against the Islamic Republic appear to be beating more loudly here.

POLITICS-US: A Meeting of Minds and Policy

There is little doubt that George W. Bush and Natan Sharansky, a Soviet émigré who is a top political official in Israel, share a similar perspective about international affairs, especially in the Middle East.

POLITICS-US: Hawk-Realist Impasse Could Persist in Second Term

With the pomp and circumstance of the inaugural and the State of the Union address now out of the way, the foreign policy direction to be taken by President George W. Bush in his second term remains a subject of considerable speculation and uncertainty.

POLITICS-AFGHANISTAN: The Birth of a Narco-State

A rejuvenated campaign to crack down on Afghanistan's booming heroin trade could backfire and end up alienating large sectors of the population from the government of President Hamid Karzai, warn Afghan development and rights groups.

RIGHTS-US: Anti-Terror Bill Targets Asylum Seekers

Controversial anti-immigration provisions that were stripped from an intelligence bill last year have resurfaced as the "Real ID Act", setting the stage for a partisan fight in Congress that could affect the cases of thousands of asylum-seekers.

POLITICS-U.S.: Middle East "Uber Alles" in the Second Term

Clearly buoyed by Sunday's election in Iraq, a confident George W. Bush told the nation that the Middle East will dominate U.S. foreign policy during his second term as president, just as his proposals to privatise the 70-year-old U.S. social security system will be his top priority at home.