Marja Serves as Microcosm of Military Failure in Afghanistan, But Failure is Country-Wide
Back in February of 2010, US President Barack Obama's surge of troops in Afghanistan began its offensive by trying to take the Marja district of Helmand Province. Then US commander of forces in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal famously…
What If the Biggest Risk ISN'T Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Giving Speeches?
The guy who covered up CIA's torture, Jose Rodriguez, worries that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed might give a speech during the course of his military commission.
Although he acted defiantly in court, Rodriguez said KSM would like nothing more than…
Kentucky Derby Trash Talk: A Run For The Roses & Missing Mary
If it is the first Saturday in May, it is Kentucky Derby day. And so it is again today. We dabble with the ponies occasionally here at the Emptywheel blog, from previous Derby Trash Talks, to our coverage of the historic battles of super filly…
The Padilla v. Yoo Decision Will Not Put Chong's Claim Up In Smoke
There has already been a lot of very good commentary across the internets and media on the notable decision in the 9th Circuit this week in the case of Jose Padilla v. John Yoo. Although many, if not most, commenters seem outraged, the decision…
The End of an Era? Final Japanese Nuclear Power Plant to Shut Down Sunday
Before the massive earthquake and tsunami in Japan on March 11, 2011, about a third of the country's electricity was supplied by the 54 nuclear power plants scattered throughout the country. In the intervening time, those nuclear reactors…
Strikes in CA, Republicans in FL Admitting Loss of Quality: Fallout from Long-Term Underfunding of Higher Education
Back in early March, Catherine Rampell wrote in the New York Times about the ongoing trend since the mid 1980's to cut state funding for higher education, noting that it has led to cutbacks in some of the very few areas of instruction where…
The Bin Laden Document Dump
As MadDog noted, there is a big Bin Laden document dump today. Here is what appears to be the main 205 page pdf file released so far this morning. The first seven pages give a decent overview, lead off by this introduction paragraph:
This…
Chen Guangcheng: The Hollow Core of a Press Manipulation Presidency
I live in the Pacific time zone, a full three hours behind the news makers and breakers on the east coast. I woke up early yesterday, by my time, and found an apparent great story occupying my Twitter stream: Chinese dissident and activist Chen…
Jay Bybee's Colleagues Say OLC Lawyers Couldn't Know that Torture Was Torture in 2001-2003
The 9th Circuit has overturned a District court ruling holding that Jose Padilla could sue John Yoo for the torture and illegal detention that Yoo's OLC work authorized.
While the decision sucks, I'm not so surprised by it, even coming from…
Going to Jihad with the Medical Records You Have, Not the Jihad Fighters You Might Want
I want to apologize to Janice Rogers Brown. In this post, I suggested she agreed with the argument the government used to dismiss evidence that corroborated Adnan Farhan Abd al Latif's explanation for why he traveled to Afghanistan.
As I…
After Obama Slips into Afghanistan Under Cover of Darkness, Taliban Attack at Dawn
Despite ongoing claims from the military that "progress" is being made in Afghanistan (but see this post for a direct contradiction to the claim violence fell 9% in 2011), the reality of the fragile security situation in Afghanistan dictated…
If "Anarchists" Threaten to Blow Up a Little-Used Bridge Over Federal Property, Is It a Plot?
The bridge on 82 in this picture is the bridge a bunch of purported "anarchists" have just been arrested for threatening to blow up.
You'll note the idyllic parklands through which it travels You'll note the presence of two bridges in the…
Confirmed: The Government Is Blowing Up Habeas with an Interrogation Report Involving Pakistan
In addition to declassifying the analogies to the Wizard of Oz Janice Rogers Brown made in her opinion on Adnan Farhan Abd Al Latif's habeas petition, the government also declassified passages from the Latif cert petition.
Newly declassified…
AP's Burns: ISAF Systematically Under-Reporting Green on Blue Attacks
For several months, I've been hammering on the Obama administration and the US military for describing green on blue attacks in Afghanistan, where Afghan military or police personnel attack NATO forces, as "isolated incidents". In choosing the…
The Secret Service Tamps Down at Home, Too
Remember US efforts to silence any potential sources about the Secret Service scandal in Cartagena? Well, they've finally decided they ought to do the same here in the states, too.
Retired agents have been instructed to stop talking to reporters.…
Big Boy Pants and the Presidency
Frankly, I think Jose Rodriguez was being naive when he claimed that having Jay Bybee's signature on a memo authorizing some, but not all, of the torture the torturers had already done by August 1, 2002 constituted full authority for what they…
Feinstein and Levin: Hassan Ghul Revealed Abu Ahmed al-Kuwaiti's Role, and Then We Tortured Him
Dianne Feinstein and Carl Levin have released a statement that basically says Jose Rodriguez' Big Boy Pants are on fire for the lies he has told about the torture program.
The statement is interesting for two reasons. First, it gets closer…
John Brennan's Outdated Drone Speech
The speech John Brennan gave today--purportedly offering a new level of transparency about our drone strikes--would have been more effective coming from someone else, delivered at a different time.
It would have been better for someone else…
Janice Rogers Brown Sings "Follow the Yellow Brick Road" as She Guts Habeas
The government has released a new version of the DC Circuit opinion in the Latif case. (Via DC Circuit Review h/t scribe)
I suppose it should comfort us that the government no longer considers this passage from Janice Rogers Brown's opinion…
CIA Disrupts Ongoing US, Pakistan Negotiations With Drone Strike Just as Breakthrough Neared
Despite no agreement being announced during Special Envoy Marc Grossman's visit to Pakistan last week, Pakistan Today reports that negotiations between Pakistan and the US had continued, and an agreement on transportation of NATO supplies through…