It has been widely reported that the two prime suspects in the Boston marathon bombings—one who was killed in a shootout early this morning—are ethnic Chechens. The brothers allegedly lived in Kyrgyzstan with their family before moving to the United … Read more »
Don’t look now, but a populous Muslim country in the Indian subcontinent is simmering with tension between its Islamist parties and its ruling civilian government. No, I’m not talking about Pakistan. I’m talking about Bangladesh, which has carried out a
Over at Forbes.com, Greg McNeal takes a break from guest blogging for Lawfare to body slam Human Rights Watch over its “killer robots” campaign. Last week, I published a grass roots letter from Human Rights, along with Tom Malinowski’s … Read more »
Over at Rolling Stone, John Knefel pans the House Judiciary Committee hearing today for being too Lawfare-heavy:
The House Judiciary Committee held a full member hearing today on when it is acceptable for the government to designate a
A few weeks ago, Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch had a thoughtful and serious—if sometimes playful—exchange with Matt, Ken, and me over fully autonomous weapons systems. But there seems to be another, less serious, side of Human Rights Watch’s … Read more »
Voice of America Urdu produces a weekly webcast called “Access Point with Ayesha Tanzeem,” which, this week, focused on U.S. drone policy and the legality of targeted killing in light of President Obama’s (very brief) remarks on transparency in his … Read more »
Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch writes in with the latest salvo in our ongoing debate about robots with autonomous firing power—in a post that, I’m afraid, sets a new standard for multi-media guest posting. Please make sure to read … Read more »
Jennifer Daskal—who is a fellow at Georgetown law these days, after serving as NSD and working for Human Rights Watch—has a genuinely brave oped in the New York Times this morning entitled “Don’t Close Guantanamo.” It argues, against … Read more »
After responding yesterday to Matt and Ken on lethal autonomous robots, Human Rights Watch’s Tom Malinowski now takes aim at my critique of his group’s report on robots with autonomous lethal capability. I post his response along with some thoughts … Read more »
I linked earlier to this new article in the course of critiquing Human Rights Watch’s report on “killer robots,” but it’s worth separate notice. Matt and Ken have written an excellent new treatment, published in Policy Review, of “… Read more »
I have now read the Human Rights Watch report, “Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots”—which calls for a preemptive ban on “fully autonomous” weapons systems and which Matt and Ken critiqued here. I agree with their critique, … Read more »
Speaking of autonomous weapons systems, which Matt and Ken and Human Rights Watch all were, the Department of Defense has issued a directive entitled “Autonomy in Weapon Systems.” It declares:
It is DoD policy that:
a. Autonomous and
Last week, Human Rights Watch (along with the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic) published a report titled “Losing Humanity: The Case Against Killer Robots.” It argues for a preemptive prohibition by multilateral treaty on the development and use … Read more »
In his response to Andrea Prasow, Ben suggests that, in continuing to object to military commissions that have been blessed by two Congresses and both the Bush and Obama Administrations, “Human Rights Watch sound[s] a bit like conservatives will … Read more »
Speaking of responses to my comments on the New York Times debate, Andrea Prasow of Human Rights Watch—who participated in the discussion—sends in the following:
Ben seems to find it boring that Human Rights Watch still maintains, as
Further to my weekend Readings post noting David Cole’s new SSRN paper, David dropped me a note, which I’m delighted to put up below. I think David is right in these comments; knowing he’s expanding this into a book, … Read more »
Georgetown law professor David Cole has a new article up on SSRN, “Where Liberty Lies: Civil Society and Individual Rights after 9/11.” It offers something of a retrospective on the role of civil society organizations in defending a vision of … Read more »
Tom Malinowski of Human Rights Watch writes in with the following comments in response to my recent post on Human Rights Watch’s new allegations of water boarding by the CIA:
I’m shocked that you’re shocked!
Seriously, what’s surprised me over
Courtesy of Tom Malinowski, who announced today that he is leaving Human Rights Watch. Writes Malinowski, after describing the joy he saw in Libya, traveling there after Qadaffi’s fall:
And then it came to me: None of this joyful liberation
Stephanie Blum, author of The Necessary Evil of Preventive Detention in the War on Terror and other stuff, writes in to question my recent post responding to Human Rights Watch and Human Rights First on the Majid Khan plea … Read more »
I promised yesterday that I would have more to say about Andrea Prasow’s comments on the fairness of the Majid Khan plea agreement after I had a chance to stew on them a bit. In the meantime, I have learned … Read more »
Laura Pitter of Human Rights Watch responds to my criticisms of her coverage of the Al Nashiri motions hearing:
Benjamin Wittes is correct in concluding that I (and Human Rights Watch) share his desire to see fair trials for Guantanamo
Writing in Salon magazine, Laura Pitter of Human Rights Watch declares that “fundamental procedural protections afforded defendants in federal courts simply do not exist in military commissions. And without comparable fairness and transparency, the promise of justice remains a … Read more »
Guess what? Human Rights Watch still wants to prosecute former President George W. Bush for torture. You knew that already? Yeah, so did I. But just in case anyone has forgotten, the group has released a new 107-page report that … Read more »
Here’s a little cautionary tale about life in the information anarchy in which we all exist today. It is, I suspect, a metaphor for something, though I’m not sure what. I pass it on as it may amuse some readers … Read more »
Last week I raised the question whether Human Rights Watch has altered its position on the scope of application of international humanitarian law (“IHL”)—a topic with tremendous significance for both the detention and targeting debates. The issue arose because, in … Read more »
I’ve received a number of interesting responses to my post from Sunday on rewriting the Espionage Act. Two bear particular attention. The first is an email from a scholar who prefers to remain anonymous, who writes:
In your proposal, you
Reacting to the decision yesterday in al-Aulaqi, Human Rights Watch has sent a letter to President Obama, in the name of HRW’s President Kenneth Roth, setting forth HRW’s views on the legal issues associated with targeted killing. A … Read more »
Mark Erickson, author of the Norwegian Shooter blog sent me a thoughtful note objecting to Bobby and my discussion of the D.C. Circuit’s Salahi decision. I invited him to write up his thoughts as a guest post. He writes … Read more »
I promised I would offer thoughts on Tom Malinowski’s latest missive after I had a chance to digest and reflect on it. Since then, I have been mostly digesting and reflecting on Justice Breyer’s new book, on which I … Read more »
When last we left the question of targeted killings, Kevin Jon Heller and I were arguing over how to read Tom Malinowski’s statement on behalf of Human Rights Watch on the subject. Considering the question a matter of original understanding, … Read more »
Kevin Jon Heller makes several challenging points in response to my earlier thoughts on Tom Malinowski’s statement on targeted killings. Before you tune this out as a navel-gazing blogosphere back-and-forth, consider that the point in dispute is actually important. … Read more »
I have been thinking a lot over the last couple of days about Tom Malinowski’s statement in response to my post about the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and drone strikes in Yemen. The more I think about it, the more … Read more »
Two weeks ago, I posted these ruminations in response to Human Rights Watch’s Executive Director Kenneth Roth’s proposal to use U.S. military force to bring the leader of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) to justice. Today, I received the following … Read more »
File this under the heading of legal issues looming on the horizon…
A major theme of the Wikileaks-Iraq coverage involves the claim that the U.S. and its allies acted illegally by transferring detainees to Iraqi custody given the prospect that … Read more »
Ok, this exchange is funny–in a macabre, morbid sort of way. It’s also deadly serious. Foreign Policy magazine has published 14 suggestions for President Obama by 14 prominent people concerning how the President can get his mojo back. One of … Read more »
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
In one of the strangest stories I’ve come across in a long time—and there have been many—news reports say an FBI agent shot and killed an Orlando man with ties to deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Ibragim Todashev was not suspected of playing a role in the bombings, but, during questioning, confessed nevertheless to playing a role in a triple homicide in the Boston area. After his confession, Todashev allegedly… Read more »
