War on Terror

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Photos of Bush-Era Prisoner Abuse to Be Released

ACLU request for release of Iraq, Afghanistan photos granted

(Newser) - The Obama administration is releasing dozens of photographs depicting prisoners in Afghanistan and Iraq being abused by Americans, the Los Angeles Times reports. The photos are not believed to be as extreme as the images from the Abu Ghraib probe, but defense officials warn they may provoke an angry backlash...

Memo Release Paralyzes CIA 'Shadow Warriors'

(Newser) - The ripples from the release of the torture memos continue to ruffle the CIA, David Ignatius writes for the Washington Post. “America will be better off, in the long run, for Obama's decision to expose the past practice of torture,” he acknowledges. “We all knew the political...

Obama Pandered to Lefties With Memo Release: Cheney

Ex-VP slams Obama terror policies

(Newser) - Dick Cheney said President Obama’s release of Bush administration torture memos was meant “essentially to appease a certain element of the Democratic Party or because of campaign commitments,” Politico reports. Speaking on Fox News, Cheney did a mocking impression of al-Qaeda’s reaction: “Gee whiz, isn't...

CIA Pushed Brutal Tactics on Interrogators

Captors felt al-Qaeda suspect had already told all he knew

(Newser) - Higher-ups in the CIA pressed for harsh interrogation methods to be used on a captured al-Qaeda member despite his interrogators' assurances that he had nothing more to tell, the New York Times reports. Abu Zubaydah had already yielded important information, including tips that led to 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shiekh Mohammed,...

'Weighty' Torture Memo Decision Took Weeks

President's belief in rule of law won out in choice to release Bush-era memos

(Newser) - President Obama spent weeks thinking "very long and hard" about his "weighty decision" to release memos on harsh CIA interrogation techniques green-lighted by the Bush administration, senior adviser David Axelrod tells Politico. In the end, Axelrod says, the president's belief in transparency and the rule of law won...

Bush Interrogation Memo Approved Use of Insects

(Newser) - Among the weirder revelations emerging from the newly released CIA memos on harsh interrogations: Bush administration lawyers approved the use of insects. Apparently, one detainee in particular had a phobia about them, so interrogators wanted to slip one into his "cramped confinement box," Time reports. The technique never...

Obama Releases Bush Memos Detailing Torture

Justice docs released detail OK'd techniques

(Newser) - A Bush-era memo on interrogation techniques acknowledged that waterboarding represented a “threat of imminent death,” but that the simulated-drowning procedure was not torture because it caused no lasting psychological harm, Reuters reports. The Justice Department memo and three others on interrogations were released to the public today—and...

US Ditches 'War on Terror'
 US Ditches 'War on Terror' 
Mar 31, 2009 1:45 AM CDT

US Ditches 'War on Terror'

Bush-era phrase has been abandoned, says Clinton

(Newser) - The Obama administration has dropped the phrase "war on terror" in reference to the conflict with al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremists, Reuters reports. "It's not being used," said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who noted that there have been no official directives about the label. Many international...

Cheney Ran Secret Hit Squad: Hersh

(Newser) - The Bush administration ran a secret team authorized to assassinate foreign targets without being accountable to Congress, says New Yorker reporter Seymour Hersh. On CNN's Situation Room, he said the hit squad could go "into a country without telling the CIA station chief or the ambassador and whack someone....

Intense Debate Led to Obama Afghan Compromise

Biden warned against being dragged into political, military quagmire

(Newser) - President Obama's new Afghan strategy was forged after intense debate among advisers, reports the New York Times, with VP Joe Biden being the voice of caution, warning against being dragged into a quagmire there. All advisers agreed that the goal should narrow to tackling al-Qaeda, rather than Bush-style nation-building. But...

Obama Rolls Out Afghan Plan: 'Al-Qaeda Must Be Stopped'

(Newser) - President Obama laid out the government's new strategy for Afghanistan today, declaring that the US must “disrupt, defeat, and dismantle” al-Qaeda and the Taliban. Obama will send another 4,000 troops to Afghanistan, on top of the 17,000 already approved. He also announced plans to work with regional...

US Maneuvers to Name Afghan Prime Minister

Part of America's 'exit strategy'

(Newser) - The US is planning to place a prime minister in the Afghanistan government to bypass corruption-tainted President Hamid Karzai, reports the Guardian. American authorities, backed by European allies, also plan to divert money to the provinces away from Karzai control. US officials have grown increasingly disillusioned with the current government...

Prez: 'Cheney Stirred US Hatred'

Cheney's philosophy hasn't made America safer, he says

(Newser) - Barack Obama yesterday returned a jab from Dick Cheney on terrorism by accusing the former vice president of putting the US at risk by revving up anti-American sentiment, reports Politico. Cheney charged last week that the president's plan to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facility increased the risk of a...

Go All In on Afghan War, McCain, Lieberman Say
Go All In on Afghan War, McCain, Lieberman Say
OPINION
Mar 19, 2009 7:16 AM CDT

Go All In on Afghan War, McCain, Lieberman Say

(Newser) - Barack Obama’s strategy for Afghanistan must roundly reject the so-called “minimalist” approach being whispered about in DC, write John McCain and Joe Lieberman in today’s Washington Post. The minimalists want the US to focus on limited, “realistic” counterterrorism goals. But McCain and Lieberman remind Obama that...

'Civilian Surge' Part of New Afghan Plan

Hundreds of diplomats may be sent along with troops

(Newser) - President Obama’s new Afghanistan policy may include stationing more diplomats and civilians there, officials tell the Washington Post. Obama’s national security advisers are expected to present a plan next week that would send hundreds of government officials from departments like Agriculture and Justice, along with temps yet to...

US Thinks Osama's in Pakistan Mountain Range

Daily News probed evidence, confirmed findings

(Newser) - Washington isn't talking about it, but since 2006 the search for Osama bin Laden has focused on a remote region of Pakistan, the New York Daily News reports in an "exhaustive" investigation. The "impenetrable" Chitral region is home to some of the tallest mountains in the world, the...

US Drops Term 'Enemy Combatant'

(Newser) - The Obama administration said today it is abandoning one of President Bush's key phrases in the war on terrorism: enemy combatant, the AP reports. The Justice Department said in legal filings that it will no longer use the term to justify holding prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. But that won't change...

Iraqi Deaths Continue, But Get Less Notice
Iraqi Deaths Continue, But Get Less Notice
ANALYSIS
Mar 12, 2009 10:53 AM CDT

Iraqi Deaths Continue, But Get Less Notice

'No one values the victims' as war winds down, mourners say

(Newser) - Abu Ghraib, once a symbol of Saddam Hussein’s tyranny and later of the darkest hour of the US occupation of Iraq, is the latest symbol of how the nation and media now treat death there, Anthony Shadid writes in the Washington Post. 33 people died there Tuesday in a...

Intel Pick's Ouster a Victory for Lobbyists
Intel Pick's Ouster a Victory for Lobbyists
OPINION
Mar 12, 2009 9:26 AM CDT

Intel Pick's Ouster a Victory for Lobbyists

Loss of excellent public servant a loss for country: Broder

(Newser) - When Charles Freeman withdrew from consideration to chair the National Intelligence Council, the Obama administration “suffered an embarrassing defeat at the hands of the lobbyists the president vowed to keep in their place,” writes David Broder of the Washington Post. Freeman boasted “one of the most distinguished...

Musharraf Mulls Return to Politics

Pakistani leaders' bickering stokes ex-president's hopes

(Newser) - Pakistan's civilian leaders have squandered months on a struggle to oust one another, just when the global financial crisis and ever-bolder religious militants are further destabilizing the country, Time reports. One man sees opportunity in the current fiasco: Pervez Musharraf. After months out of the public eye, the ousted former...

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