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Note: This could be a post I'll be referencing in the future — not just a thought for the day. I could be making changes periodically. Apologies in advance for the length.A guest of Bill Maher recently complained of Guantanamo, “people have not been charged, or tried, and what happened to rule of law? That’s the whole principle of the Constitution.” She apparently has been lied to, and it's about time we clear this up. We see a lot of articles about Guantanamo detainees being “released without charge” or “never charged with a crime.” They want us to believe we'd...

Seven years after the release of shocking images of tortured prisoners in Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the Supreme Court has turned back the appeal of 26 inmates from that infamous facility who wanted to sue two military contractors for damages. The military's official investigation revealed "numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses" committed by military personnel and civilian contractors who provided support services at the prison. More than two dozen soldiers were reprimanded or court-martialed for their conduct. But those who were tortured want to sue two firms that hired the civilians who helped the military with...

Talking to Republican Colorado Senator Cory Gardner during her MSNBC show on Tuesday, host Andrea Mitchell lectured the GOP lawmaker on opposing President Obama’s plan to shut down Guantanamo Bay and bring terrorist detainees to prisons inside the United States: “So we’re holding prisoners, paying for them, and arguably hurting our standing in the world because Guantanamo has become such a red flag everywhere in the world, when we could have them locked up in the U.S. and put away for life.” In response, Gardner completely ripped apart her argument: “Well, actually, again, if you are a terrorist you belong...

A selection of lunch meals offered to detainees are displayed in a food preparation area.Automobile magazines are among the reading material available at the detainee library, March 7, 2013.Harry Potter movies are among the titles available at the detainee library inside Camp Delta,

We all know the president wants to close Guantanamo Bay, the plans for which how that will be achieved are expected this month, but what happens if we continue to nab more Islamic extremists? For now, the interrogations occur on naval ships and the prisoners are transferred to other nations' legal systems, or they're brought here to be tried in our court system. That's including military commissions, according to the Associated Press. Yet, this lack of clarity on what to do if we see an uptick in captured terrorists has legal wonks and national security officials unnerved: "If you're going to...

President Obama, in his last State of the Union speech Tuesday, again called for closing the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, terrorist prison. According to U.S. defense officials, the Pentagon wants to build a new prison near the federal high-security prison outside Colorado Springs under a controversial plan to bring more than 50 Islamic terrorists from Cuba to the United States. The Pentagon has begun emptying the military prison as part of a White House push to close the Guantanamo Bay facility before Mr. Obama’s term ends. But Mr. Obama is facing several serious legal, political and financial hurdles. First, federal law...

The Defense Department announced Thursday that 10 Yemeni detainees have been set free from Guantánamo Bay detention camp in Cuba. All of them were sent to the Gulf state of Oman, the Pentagon said. Less than 100 detainees now remain at the military facility. “The Oman transfer of 10 is the single largest transfer to a single country at one time under the current administration,” A Pentagon spokesman told the media. Since the beginning of 2016, 14 detainees have been released from the detention facility. Previously released detainees include Al Qaeda terrorists and a man who pledged to kill Americans...

In President Obama's quest to shut down Guantanamo Bay, his administration is continuing apace in releasing detainees. We're only 13 days into the new year and four have already been released, including 40-year-old Muhammad al Rahman al-Shumrani. Al-Shumrani's transfer back to his home country of Saudi Arabia is particularly troublesome because he's already made it clear that killing Americans will be a top priority upon his release. According to his leaked confidential file, he reportedly told guards on October 14, 2007, the following: On 14 October 2007, detainee stated, "When I get out of here, I will go to...

Ibn al-Sheikh al-Libi, whose real name was Ali Mohammed al-Fakheri, 46, took his own life in his prison cell, according to the Libyan newspaper Oea. Information gained from the interrogation of al-Libi was cited on several occasions by the Bush administration as justification for the war in Iraq. He told his CIA interrogators that al-Qaeda had sent two men to Iraq to seek training in chemical and biological weapons in December 2000. Classified documents added that the men did not return, so al-Libi did not know whether the training took place, and that, in any case, he was probably "intentionally...

Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour has been wounded in a gunfight at a meeting of militants in the Pakistani city of Quetta, reports say.

SNIPPET: "The detentions would be temporary."

And the Central Command web site says Gottlieb was detailed from the White House for a time to a joint inter-agency task force focusing on detainee operations in Afghanistan. He was in Kabul from January 2010 through March 2011, according to a biography. Gottlieb, as a White House employee, is allowed to bring guests to dine in the White House mess -- basically an employee cafeteria.

Kiriakou, 47, was a source for stories by The New York Times and other news organizations in 2008 and 2009 about some of the agency’s most sensitive operations after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. ......... that the information Kiriakou supplied to journalists ... enabling defense attorneys there to obtain photographs of CIA operatives suspected of being involved in harsh interrogations. Some of the pictures were subsequently discovered in the cells of high-value detainees.

Classified U.S. government information was found in the cells of high-value detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison that houses the world’s most dangerous terrorists, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).

In fact, captured terrorists went out of style a long time ago, so that’s not the actual change. Until recently — like, say, two weeks ago — the Department of Defense used the term unlawful combatant as the label for terrorists captured by American military and intelligence forces as a way to distinguish them from uniformed soldiers of a recognized state authority in a straight-up fight. Their new manual dispenses with that term, the Federation of American Scientists noticed today (via Steven Aftergood and Olivier Knox): When it comes to Department of Defense doctrine on military treatment of detained persons,...

Lawfare Blog: Following an American special forces raid on the compound of Islamic State operative Abu Sayyaf, U.S. interrogators, who are part of the High Value Detainee Interrogation Group, have flown to Iraq in order to question Umm Sayyaf, the wife of Abu Sayyaf, who was taken during the operation. Umm Sayyaf was allegedly involved in the workings of the Islamic State and could possibly have played a role in “the enslavement of women in Iraq and Syria.” U.S. interrogators plan to talk to Umm Sayyaf about U.S. hostages held by the militant group. However, according to the Washington Post,...

Betrayal: Another Obama amnesty program is well underway — at Guantanamo, where three dangerous al-Qaida operatives have quietly been OK´d for release in three months. And now a close aide to the 9/11 mastermind is also on tap for release. After already freeing an al-Qaida bomb maker last month — over the objections of U.S. intelligence, which warned, "He would be capable of re-engaging as an explosives expert or trainer" — the parole board that Obama set up to clear out Gitmo is now poised to rubber-stamp for release a close associate of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Gitmo´s so-called Periodic Review

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. must release photographs showing abuse of detainees in Iraq and Afghanistan, a federal judge has ruled in a long-running clash over letting the world see potentially disturbing images of how the military treated prisoners. U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein's ruling Friday gives the government, which has fought the case for over a decade, two months to decide whether to appeal before the photos could be released. The American Civil Liberties Union has been seeking to make them public in the name of holding government accountable.

On Tuesday, Barack Obama adamantly defended his policy of emptying the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, demanding that Congress get on board with it as well. As Jim Hoft noted at the time, the military leadership present at the State of the Union address didn’t appear too enthusiastic about it:CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR THE VIDEO Perhaps the New York Times has an explanation for that stone-faced reaction. At the same time that Obama bragged about “turning the page” on war and the end of combat operations in Afghanistan, one of the men transferred from Gitmo worked to establish a...

Obviously as a reward for committing theft of classified documents for the democrats, Barack Obama has named Alissa Starzak to the legal department at the Pentagon. It’s a position she has never achieved on her own and is a large promotion over her previous jobs. But why put someone with a history of stealing classified secrets to a job where she could steal the country’s most guarded secrets? It’s a reward. Republicans in both houses of congress have accused her of making copies of documents and carrying them out of the Pentagon for use by Diane Feinstein and her committee...