“The safety of the people shall be the highest law.” Cicero, The Laws During the coming year, the United States, in occasional concert with Israel, must confront expanding terrorist threats. Topping pertinent concerns in Washington and Jerusalem will be a sordid assortment of jihadi groups, some spawned by the al-Assad regime collapse in Syria and [...]
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Targeted Killing of Avowed Terrorists: Three US Presidents and Three Cases in Point
During the Barack Obama presidency, the Justice Department prepared a 16-page unsigned, undated “White Paper” that outlined the administration’s legal reasoning justifying unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-targeted killings of terrorism suspects if an informed high-level official decided that the target was a high-ranking al-Qaida figure or affiliate who posed an imminent threat of violent attack against [...]
In October 2001, the U.S. invaded Afghanistan to avenge the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and remove the Taliban government that had harbored the attacks’ mastermind, Osama bin Laden. Since then, the Taliban have been fighting the U.S. to free their homeland from occupation. For nearly 20 years, the U.S. narrative of “national [...]
Targeting Jihadist Terrorists: Identifying Pertinent Legal Guidelines
Targeted killing campaigns are still accelerating under the Trump administration, with fewer constraints and even less transparency. More precisely, it seems that the Obama-era Presidential Policy Guidance has been relaxed in two very meaningful ways: targets of “kill missions” are being expanded to include more Jihadist “Foot Soldiers” (rather than just identifiable terrorist leaders) and directed drone [...]
Journalists allegedly targeted for drone strikes sue US government
Human rights group Reprieve has filed a lawsuit in the US District Court for District of Columbia against the US government for allegedly placing them on a "kill list" to be targeted for...
Federal appeals court rejects ACLU request for drone documents
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday rejected a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for information about the US government's...
UN calls for independent investigation into US drone strike in Afghanistan
The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) on Thursday condemned an airstrike launched by unmanned aerial vehicle that struck a civilian home killing 15 and injuring 13, including one child. The airstrike, apparently targeting Islamic State (IS) militants,...
Former Guantanamo prosecutor reaches settlement with Library of Congress
Col. Morris Davis, former chief prosecutor for the Guantanamo military commissions, settled a freedom of speech lawsuit on Tuesday against the Library of Congress after Davis was terminated from his position as assistant director of the Congressional Research...
The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on Thursday upheld a district court's dismissal of a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for information about the US government's use of drones...
HRW: fully autonomous weapons must be internationally prohibited
Fully autonomous weapons, as opposed to the current remote-controlled drone weapons, must be internationally prohibited , Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report released Monday. The report is part of the Campaign to Stop Killer...