Return of the Torture Monsters Part III: Force Drift Across Administrations
Part one of the series can be found here. Part two of the series can be found here. During the War on Terror, force drift was explained to me as the concept that increasing levels of force are seen to be reasonable, and there is an almost unstoppable trend toward the use of more and [...]
Return of the Torture Monsters Part II: Remembering Abu Ghraib
Part one of this series can be found here: Return of the Torture Monsters: Here We Go Again. Part three of this series can be found here: Return of the Torture Monsters Part III: Force Drift Across Administrations. Recently, the ACLU highlighted one of the torture architects of our past. In early 2002, then National Security [...]
Part two of this series can be found here: Return of the Torture Monsters Part II: Remembering Abu Ghraib. Part three of this series can be found here: Return of the Torture Monsters Part III: Force Drift Across Administrations. Pete Hegseth, confirmed by the Senate on January 24 as US President Donald Trump’s Secretary of [...]
US military contractor CACI to face retrial over allegations of torture at Iraq prison
A US federal judge ordered a retrial on Friday in a case involving allegations that Virginia-based military contractor CACI Premier Technology, Inc. (CACI) contributed to the abuse and torture of detainees at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison two decades ago. Judge Leonie Brinkema granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a new trial and denied CACI’s motion for [...]
The Boston Globe has a new series on Future Proofing the Presidency, making a case for prosecution of former President Donald Trump. Just for the record, in DC the basic Presidential criminality approach is: 1) The President gets an interpretation of the law from a lawyer somewhere such as in the Office of Legal Counsel [...]
Federal appeals court allows lawsuit against Abu Ghraib contractor to proceed
A three-judge panel from the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has denied an appeal from a defense contractor to halt a lawsuit over their involvement in the 2004 Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The lawsuit was filed by a group of Iraqi citizens who alleged that numerous US military and civilian contractors conspired [...]
Federal judge allows Abu Ghraib prisoners' lawsuit to move forward
US District Judge Leonie Brinkema on Wednesday allowed a lawsuit brought by three former inmates of Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq against military contractor CACI Premier Technology to proceed. The case, originally filed in 2008 by the Center for Constitutional Rights, alleges that military police (MPs) tortured the prisoners at the direction of civilian contractors [...]
Federal appeals court rejects release of Abu Ghraib photographs
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled Tuesday that photographs of detainees taken by US military personnel can be withheld from release. In 2003 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) for the release of photographs depicting torture at military detention facilities in [...]
The Meaning of Gina Haspel as CIA Director Designate: Is This the Best the United States Can Do?
JUIRST Guest Columnist Benjamin G. Davis of the University of Toledo College of Law discusses the potential implications of Gina Haspel as CIA Director Designate....I. Ah, if the Obama Administration had only followed my advice! November 15, 2016, after teaching...
JURIST Guest Columnist Benjamin G. Davis of University of Toledo College of Law discusses the International Criminal Court's looking into investigating Americans for criminal prosecution for torture of prisoners in Afghanistan...As has been recently reported in the news, the International...
