And about that Nuclear Hellstorm Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Promised if Osama bin Laden Was Killed?
When the WikiLeaks Gitmo Files were first released last week, the Telegraph's top headline warned of a "nuclear hellstorm" if Osama bin Laden were captured or killed.
One of the terrorist group’s most senior figures warned that al-Qaeda…
Apaches, Seminoles, and al Qaeda
As I noted several weeks ago (and as Carol Rosenberg has reported in depth), the government pissed off the Seminole tribe earlier this year by claiming that Seminoles defending themselves in territory held by the Spanish during the early 19th…
Abu Faraj al-Libi and the Trail to Osama bin Laden
According to reports, we first started tracking the couriers who would ultimately lead us to Osama bin Laden over four years ago.
The stream of information that led to Sunday's raid began over four years ago, when U.S. intelligence personnel…
Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad: Pakistani Incompetence or Complicity?
It's probably just a coincidence that the US finally got Osama bin Laden at a time when its relationship with Pakistan is at a post-9/11 low. President Obama said the discovery of OBL came from a lead first generated last August.
Then, last…
BREAKING: Unusual Hasty Sunday Night Obama Statement
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bmazEmergency Presidential statement set for tonight, very unusual for a late Sunday night.
US Assassinates Saif Qaddafi and Three Qaddafi Grandsons
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bmazA Nato air strike in the Libyan capital, Tripoli, has killed the son and three grandsons of the Libyan leader, Colonel Gaddafi, a government spokesman has said
Two WMD Terrorists, the President's Daily Briefing, and Lone Wolves
This Time article is designed to be a swan song to Robert Mueller's career; it builds over almost 6,500 words to the conclusion that, "Most people inside the bureau believe that the blown opportunities to head off 9/11 would not recur today."…
Bradley Manning Protest: White House Bans Journalist for Doing Journalism
To a degree, this reminds me of the Joshua Claus moment, when DOD banned reporters like Carol Rosenberg and Michelle Shephard because they uttered the name "Joshua Claus" in their coverage of his testimony in Omar Khadr's trial. (Shephard had…
The Blowjob that Shall Not Be Named
Politico has a festival of stupidity on yesterday's release by Obama of his long form birth certificate. The varieties of stupid in the article include:
Ignoring the real precedent of the blowjob that shall not be named
Blaming birtherism…
Saifullah Paracha's Gitmo File Contains Suspect Details, but His Defense Attorney Can't Point Them Out
I'm going to be in transit for another half day yet, but I wanted to comment on this motion David Remes, Gitmo detainee Saifullah Paracha's attorney, filed to request emergency access to the Detainee Assessment Brief on his client released by…
Tom Brady et. al v. The National Football League Stay Decision
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bmazJudge Susan Nelson of Minnesota District Court has denied the stay of her decision on Monday lifting the lockout imposed by the owners collectively acting as the National Football League. Here is the hard hitting order denying the say and granting the players a temporary victory.
Roberts Court Sticks Another Dagger In the Back Of Consumers
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bmazThe Supreme Court has given big business a huge gift with its decision today in AT&T v. Concepcion.
The Cover Story that Serves as a Cover Story
Check out this sentence, which appears at the end of the Executive Summary of a document purporting to debunk the "cover stories" of detainees who claimed to have traveled to Afghanistan to teach the Koran.
Mujahideen that traveled to Afghanistan…
The Drone "Debate" and Friendly Fire
Last week, Spencer reported on an Air Force contract for software to move towards self-piloted drones.
The Air Force recently gave Stottler Henke Associates $100,000 to deliver a software package that can keep drones from colliding into human-piloted…
Tortured Confessions and the Gitmo Protection Orders
An unfortunate side effect of the NYT and NPR's attempt to preempt WikiLeaks' embargo on the Gitmo Files is that their coverage--rather than the coverage of those who had been working on the files for several weeks--got the most attention. Notably,…
Illegal Wiretap Leak Probe Dropped
According to Josh Gerstein, DOJ decided not to charge anyone in the illegal wiretap leak probe.
The Justice Department has dropped its long-running criminal investigation of a lawyer who publicly admitted leaking information about President…
DOJ Warns Gitmo Defense Attorneys Not to Use Gitmo Files
The defense attorneys representing detainees at Gitmo in habeas proceedings received this email today.
Subject: Information in the public domain 2nd reminder
All:
As many of you have undoubtedly heard or read, government documents that…
The US Training Manuals al Qaeda Used
Back in April 2009, I wrote a post outlining how purported al Qaeda training manuals formed the basis of Bruce Jessen and James Mitchell's torture program.
The SASC Report on Detainee Treatment reveals that some information collected from al…
The Gitmo Documents Reveal Disparities between US and Other Countries' Assessment of Risk
I'm working on weedy readings of the Gitmo Files released today. But I wanted to note the important revelation--and the source of the government's concerns--regarding the release.
These files assess how big a risk these prisoners are. And…
The Gitmo Files: Abu Zubaydah's File
As bmaz posted, WikiLeaks is (finally) releasing the Gitmo Files, review files on 758 of the detainees who have passed through Gitmo. For background, here's the story Carol Rosenberg (with Tom Lasseter) wrote about the files. Among other things,…