Watching the Shadows

Maine neo-Nazi prepared "dirty bomb"?

Trust fund millionaire James G. Cummings, a neo-Nazi sympathizer from Maine who was slain by his wife Amber in December, allegedly had the radioactive components necessary to construct a "dirty bomb," a newly released threat analysis report states. The man, allegedly furious over the election of Barack Obama, purchased radioactive materials over the Internet.

"Terrorist watch" list hits 1 million

The government's terrorist watch list has hit 1 million entries, according to figures released to USA Today—up 32% since 2007. The rise comes despite the removal of 33,000 entries last year by the FBI's Terrorist Screening Center in an effort to purge the list of outdated information and remove people cleared in investigations.

Italy: high court deals blow to CIA "rendition" trial

Italy's highest court ruled March 11 that an investigation into the role of US and Italian intelligence agents in the kidnapping of an Egyptian terrorism suspect breached state secrets. It was not immediately clear whether the Constitutional Court's ruling will force a lower court to shelve the trial of 26 Americans and seven Italians when proceedings resume on March 18.

UN rights rapporteur blasts GWOT

UN Special Rapporteur on human rights Martin Scheinin March 10 cited the case of Canadian citizen and former US detainee Maher Arar in presenting a report critical of international counter-terrorism practices to the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. Scheinin flagged Arar's deportation from the US as an example of how intelligence sharing without "adequate safeguards" can lead to human rights violations. The report was broadly critical of US "rendition" policies and also censured the United Kingdom, Australia and other countries for providing assistance to the US.

Destroyed CIA interrogation tapes contained torture evidence: documents

Twelve of the 92 videotapes destroyed by the CIA contained evidence of torture, according to redacted documents filed March 6 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The US Department of Justice (DOJ) had acknowledged last week that the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) destroyed 92 videotapes of high value terrorism suspect interrogations, in response to an August 2008 judicial order that the CIA turn over information regarding the tapes or provide specific justifications on why it could not release the information.

Ex-Gitmo detainee: memos show UK torture complicity

Former Guantánamo Bay detainee Binyam Mohamed claimed in March 8 media reports that documents sent from MI5 to the CIA show that the British intelligence agency was involved with his alleged torture in Morocco. Mohamed claimed the documents reveal that MI5 fed the CIA questions that ended up in the hands of his Moroccan interrogators. A telegraph to the CIA dated Nov. 5, 2002, reportedly has the heading, "Request for further Detainee questioning."

Supreme Court dismisses al-Marri "enemy combatant" appeal as moot

The US Supreme Court March 6 granted a motion by the government to dismiss as moot an appeal challenging the indefinite detention of suspected al-Qaeda operative Ali Saleh Kahlah al-Marri. The Court had agreed in December to hear al-Marri's appeal of a ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upholding his detention. Acting Solicitor General Edwin Kneedler presented a motion to the Court, asking it to dismiss the appeal as moot in light of the administration's decision last week to try al-Marri in US federal court. Al-Marri was indicted last week on two charges of providing material support to al-Qaeda and conspiring with others to provide material support to al-Qaeda.

CIA admits 92 "terror tapes" destroyed

The CIA has destroyed 92 tapes of interrogations of "terror" suspects, far more than previously acknowledged, government lawyers said March 2 in a letter filed as part of a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). "The large number of videotapes destroyed confirms that the agency engaged in a systematic attempt to hide evidence of its illegal interrogations," said the ACLU's Amrit Singh.

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