enemy combatants news stories on Newser

Court Kills Terrorist's Suit Against Bush Lawyer

Kevin Spak — Thu, 03 May 2012 14:37:05 CDT

Convicted terrorist Jose Padilla can't sue the Bush administration lawyer who helped craft the legal justification for torturing him—nor can any American citizen in the same predicament, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled today. Padilla, an American citizen dubbed an "enemy combatant" in 2002, has been trying to...

So Miranda Didn't Blow This Case—but It Could Have!

Emily Rauhala — Fri, 07 May 2010 08:06:33 CDT

America must update its approach to investigating terrorists, argues Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post . It's great that Faisal Shahzad kept talking after being read his Miranda rights, but what if he stopped? His silence could have put people at risk. "We should treat enemy combatants as enemy combatants, whether...

Slovakia Takes 3 Gitmo Detainees

Harry Kimball — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:39:50 CST

Three detainees from the US prison at Guantanamo Bay were moved to Slovakia over the weekend, bringing the total number of detainees at the Cuban base down to 193. Neither that nation nor the Justice Department, at Slovakia’s urging, would disclose the former prisoners’ names or nationalities, Reuters reports. Slovakia...

Panel: 50 Gitmo Prisoners Must Be Kept Indefinitely

Harry Kimball — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 09:43:21 CST

A task force spearheaded by the Justice Department recommends that 50 of the 196 detainees at Guantanamo Bay be held indefinitely without trial. The group, providing a specific breakdown for the first time, determined that the 50 prisoners were too dangerous to release and that any trial would expose state...

More Ex-Detainees Returning to Fight: Pentagon

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:18:46 CST

One in five terror suspects released from the Guantanamo Bay prison has returned to the fight, according to a classified Pentagon report. Early last year, the Pentagon reported that the rate of released detainees returning to militancy was 11%. In April, it was 14%. The latest figure was 20%, according...

Easy to Find Middle Ground on Gitmo: Klein

Kevin Spak — Thu, 21 May 2009 10:20:01 CDT

Lawyers and soldiers are divided on how to deal with enemy combatants, but “it shouldn’t be too hard to find a middle ground,” writes Joe Klein in Time , because both arguments “are being made by unappealing extremists.” It’s unrealistic to try detainees in open civilian courts, as the ACLU wants,...

Al-Qaeda Agent Pleads Guilty to Supporting Terrorism

John Johnson — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 18:29:10 CDT

An al-Qaeda sleeper agent who entered the country the day before the 9/11 attacks pleaded guilty to supporting terrorism in federal court today and faces 15 years in prison, the Peoria Journal Star reports. The government says Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri, who had been designated an "enemy combatant" and detained...

Afghan Detainees Have Right to US Courts: Judge

John Johnson — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 16:41:07 CDT

A federal judge overruled both the Bush and the Obama administrations today, declaring that prisoners held at a military base in Afghanistan can challenge their detention in US civilian courts, the New York Times reports. The prisoners deserve the same right that the Supreme Court granted to Gitmo detainees last...

Yemen Doc Cleared to Leave Gitmo After 7 Years

Rob Quinn — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:38:56 CDT

A Yemeni doctor held at Guantanamo Bay since 2002 has been cleared for transfer abroad as part of the administration's review of prisoner cases, reports CNN. Justice Department officials say the hard part now will be to find a country willing to take him. The Bush administration once claimed the...