From Reuters, Sept. 26:

U.S. should be able to shut Internet, former CIA chief says
SAN ANTONIO — Cyberterrorism is such a threat that the U.S. president should have the authority to shut down the Internet in the event of an attack, Former CIA Director Michael Hayden said.

The Obama administration on Sept. 24 filed a brief with the District Court for the District of Columbia, asking the court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the legality of targeted killings of terrorism suspects. The lawsuit, filed by the father of US citizen Anwar al-Awlaqi, seeks an injunction to prevent the government from killing al-Awlaqi on the basis that it would be an extrajudicial execution. The Obama administration argues that this matter involves "non-justiciable political questions" to be decided by the executive branch and that litigation could divulge state secrets.

The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit Sept. 8 affirmed a district court's dismissal of a suit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) against a Boeing subsidiary in connection with its alleged role in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) "extraordinary rendition" program.

The US Treasury and the UN on Aug. 24 announced sanctions against a supposed al-Qaeda leader who also is Osama bin Laden's son-in-law for serving as a top financial official in the terror organization. Muhammad Abdallah Hasan Abu al-Khayr was designated by the US as a "specially designated global terrorist" under Executive Order 13224 and was also added to the UN's 1267 sanctions list for al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives. The designation allows the US and the UN to freeze the assets of Khayr, prevent him from using financial institutions, and prosecute him for terrorist activities. Khayr is described by the Treasury as "a key leader of the terrorist organization's finance section" who "also acts for al-Qaeda in a leadership role on the media committee." (The Long War Journal, Aug. 24)

US military judge Army Col. Patrick Parrish rejected claims by Canadian Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr that his confession was a product of torture, in a ruling released Aug. 20. Khadr's lawyers had argued that his statements were illegally obtained through threats of rape and death by interrogators. Parrish rejected the suppression motion, finding:

The military trial of Canadian Guantánamo Bay detainee Omar Khadr was suspended Aug. 13, following the collapse of his lawyer during opening testimony. The lawyer, Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, was airlifted to mainland medical facilities following the collapse, which is attributed to complications from gall bladder surgery. Jackson is Khadr's only lawyer, and is the only member of his defense team authorized to address the court. Due to his absence, the trial may be suspended until October.

Sudanese Guantánamo Bay detainee Ibrahim Ahmed Mahmoud al-Qosi on Aug. 9 reached a plea agreement with the US government setting out the maximum sentence he can receive at his military tribunal. The details of the plea agreement will remain sealed until he is released from prison, but it is reported to limit his sentence to between 12 and 15 years. According to al-Qosi's lawyers, the government will allow him to serve his sentence at Camp 4, a facility at Guantanamo reserved for the best behaved detainees. Additionally, al-Qosi is said to have waived credit for the eight years he has spent in detention.

The Central Intelligence Agency transferred several high-profile prisoners to Guantánamo Bayto await trial in 2003, only to transfer them back into the CIA's network of secret prisons so they would not be entitled to lawyers and access to US courts, the Associated Press reported Aug. 6. Among the suspects reportedly on the September 2003 flight were prominent al-Qaedamembers Ramzi Binalshibh and Mustafa al-Hawsawi, who supposedly aided in the planning of the 9-11 attacks, and Abd al-Nashiri, who supposedly planned the 2000 USS Cole bombing. A commercial jetliner operated by one of the CIA's several airline front companies removed al-Hawsawi from the "Salt Pit" in Kabul, Afghanistan, transferred alleged 9-11 conspirator Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to "Britelite" in Bucharest, Romania, and picked up the others at a facility in Rabat, Morocco, before landing in Guantánamo Bay.