The legal advisor to the Convening Authority for Military Commissions at Guantanamo Bay testified before members of Congress Dec. 11 that evidence gathered from interrogation techniques such as waterboarding may be admissible during military commission proceedings if it is "reliable and probative." Speaking before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, Air Force Brig. Gen. Thomas W.Hartmann declined to answer senators' questions regarding whether waterboarding is illegal when used by or against Americans.

A Peruvian court Dec. 11 sentenced former president Alberto Fujimori to six years in prison for abusing his powers by ordering an illegal search of the home of Trinidad Becerra, wife of his fugitive spymaster Vladimiro Montesinos in November 2000. The ex-president was also fined 400,000 soles ($135,000 dollars). But he claimed the search was necessary as part of a nationwide hunt for Montesinos, then wanted on both Swiss charges of money-laundering and Peruvian charges bribing opposition figures.

Hundreds of people protested the planned border fence in McAllen, TX, Dec. 11, as a federally sponsored "open house" for public comment on a draft study of the project opened. The meeting was the first of three to hear public input on the Environmental Impact Statement for proposed fencing that would span 70 miles of the Rio Grande Valley. Brownsville Mayor Pat Ahumada said city leaders were to meet with Homeland Security officials to discuss his alternative plan for a "virtual fence." Angry citizens heckled Homeland Security presenters at the town meeting. "I'm making my comment," yelled Ruben Solis, who held a "No Border Wall" sign, after being shut up by facilitators. (AP, Dec. 12)

The Dec. 12 car-bomb assassination of Gen. Francois al-Hajj marks the first targeting of a Lebanese military figure since the current wave of terror began with the 2005 attack on former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Gen. al-Hajj, army chief of operations, was widely expected to become chief of staff if the incumbent, Gen. Michel Suleiman, is chosen as Lebanon's next president. Three others were also killed in the morning rush-hour attack in the Beirut Christian suburb of Baabda. (The Guardian, Dec. 13; London Times, Dec. 12) Suspicion has of course fallen on Damascus, but Syrian statements condemning the attack have also implicated Israel. An unnamed Syrian intelligence source quoted by the official news agency SANA said: "Such an act was targeting the Lebanese military establishment and its hostile ideology to Israel." Added SANA: "The source indicated that the beneficiary from this crime is Israel and its tools in Lebanon, in killing such a Lebanese national figure, who believed in the ideology of the Lebanese army, embraced the resistance, worked for unified Lebanon, and rejected division." (AKI, Dec. 12)

Niger's army reports soldiers shot dead seven Tuareg civilians "by accident" in a fire-fight with rebels from the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) in the Tiguidit region, some 80 kilometers northeast of the provincial capital Agadez. Officials say the civilians were shot when their four Toyota pickups strayed onto the battlefield. Two of those killed were well-known Tuareg traders, Sidi Amar and Ousmane Sidi. "This accident has deeply affected the army which has in its ranks a member of the family of one of those killed," read the Defense Ministry's Dec. 10 statement, claiming residents had been warned of military operations in the area.

On Nov. 27, Somali immigrant Nuradin Abdi was sentenced to 10 years in prison in US District Court in Columbus, Ohio, for his role in an alleged plot to bomb a shopping mall. Abdi, a cell phone salesperson before his November 2003 arrest, pleaded guilty in July 2007 of one count of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists. [In 2004, questions were raised about whether Abdi's mental state had been broken through torture while he was in immigration detention—see Immigration News Briefs, July 31, 2004]. Abdi first entered the US in 1995 with a false passport and was later granted asylum "based on a series of false statements," according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). A DOJ spokesperson said Abdi would be deported to Somalia after serving his prison term.

In a 71-page report released on Dec. 7, Human Rights Watch urged the Department of Homeland Security to upgrade its care and treatment of immigration detainees with HIV, the virus associated with AIDS. According to the watchdog organization, the agency fails to monitor medical care for detainees with HIV, and doesn't even know the extent of the problem among the nearly 30,000 people it holds in immigration detention on any given day. "The US government has no idea how many of these immigrants have HIV or AIDS, how many need treatment, and how many are receiving the care that is necessary," said Megan McLemore of Human Rights Watch's HIV/AIDS program.

On Dec. 7, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said he would give landowners in South Texas 30 days to consent to letting federal officials survey their properties to determine whether they are suitable for a planned border fence. If the owners don't give permission, Chertoff said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will turn to the courts to gain temporary access. If the agency finds the land appropriate for fencing and landowners refuse to cooperate, the department will seek court action to confiscate the land. (Los Angeles Times, Brownsville Herald, Dec. 8) Chertoff said the DHS needs access to 225 miles of noncontiguous land, most of it in Texas and Arizona, in order to build 370 miles of border fencing by the end of 2008."The door is still open to talk, but it's not open for endless talk," Chertoff said. "We won't pay more than market price for the land," he added.