The Latest - Terrorist Detainees

Terrorist Detainees Latest

1st March 2012 – National Review Online

Releasing the Blind Sheikh?

The Arabic-language newspaper al-Arabiya reported on Tuesday that the Obama administration has offered to release Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman to Egypt. Abdel Rahman is the infamous “Blind Sheikh” who was convicted in 1995 for masterminding a terrorist war against the United States... more...

25th February 2012 – National Review Online

Why Apologize to Afghanistan?

The New York Times reports that President Obama has sent a formal letter of apology to Afghanistan’s ingrate president, Hamid Karzai, for the burning of Korans at a U.S. military base. more...

24th February 2012 – National Review Online

The Sharia Court of Pennsylvania — the Transcript

I have made a transcript of the Pennsylvania case in which state judge Mark Martin, a Muslim convert and U.S. Army reservist who served in Iraq, relied on a sharia law defense (as well as some evidentiary contortions) to dismiss an open-and-shut harassment case against a Muslim man who assaulted an atheist activist at a Halloween parade. more...

6th February 2012 – The Weekly Standard

Strategic Retreat

Bill Roggio, Thomas Joscelyn

The killing of Osama bin Laden was a monumental tactical success in the war against al Qaeda. For millions, bin Laden had come to symbolize American weakness. more...

19th January 2012 – National Review Online

Ron Paul: Wrong on the Taliban

Ron Paul knows even less about the history of our enemies than he does about their proper treatment under the Constitution. He actually interrupted Monday night’s Republican candidates’ debate so he could interject the following: more...

18th January 2012 – National Review Online

Candidates and Combatants

Monday night’s debate featured an exchange between Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum regarding the treatment of American citizens who join with our jihadist enemies to make war against our country. more...

17th January 2012 – The Long War Journal

Algerian Court Sentences Ex-Gitmo Detainee to 3 Years in Prison

Thomas Joscelyn

An Algerian court sentenced an ex-Guantanamo detainee to three years in prison on Monday for his involvement with an extremist group. Prosecutors had sought a 10-year prison sentence for Nadji Abdelaziz, according to Agence France Presse. more...

11th January 2012 – The Weekly Standard

The Stories Ex-Gitmo Detainees Tell

Thomas Joscelyn

Ten years ago this week, the U.S. government opened the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention facility. And three years ago this month, shortly after his inauguration, President Barack Obama ordered Guantanamo shuttered within one year. more...

11th January 2012 – PBS

NewsHour

David B. Rivkin

A decade after the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, began accepting prisoners, the debate continues over how the U.S. treats terror suspects. more...

4th January 2012 – The Long War Journal

White House Denies Deal to Release Taliban Leader

Thomas Joscelyn

The Guardian (UK) reported yesterday, citing anonymous sources, that the Obama administration had already decided to release several senior Taliban commanders held at Guantanamo. more...

4th January 2012 – National Review Online

While You Were Watching Iowa, Obama Was Springing Taliban Terrorists from Gitmo

The Guardian reports that the Obama administration has “agreed in principle to release high-ranking Taliban officials from Guantanamo Bay in return for the Afghan insurgents’ agreement to open a political office for peace negotiations in Qatar.” more...

4th January 2012 – National Review Online

Meet the Jihadist War Criminal Obama Plans to Release from Gitmo

At AEI’s blog, Marc Thiessen provides the low-down on Mullah Mohammed Fazi, one of the Taliban terrorists President Obama envisions releasing from Gitmo, in return for … nothing more...

2nd January 2012 – National Review Online

Muslim Brotherhood to Renounce Peace Pact With Israel . . . By Referendum

Mindful of its lopsided electoral triumph in Egypt, which has been so enthusiastically welcomed by the Obama administration and top Democratic emissary John Kerry, the Muslim Brotherhood has announced plans to submit the Camp David Accords more...

31st December 2011 – National Review Online

Obama Recruits Qaradawi

The surrender is complete now. The Hindu reports that the Obama administration has turned to Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the Muslim Brotherhood’s leading jurist, to mediate secret negotiations between the United States and the Taliban. more...

19th December 2011 – The Long War Journal

Taliban Seek Freedom for Dangerous Guantanamo Detainees

Thomas Joscelyn

The Obama administration is considering repatriating some Guantanamo detainees to Afghanistan as part of a diplomatic effort to engage the Taliban, according to Reuters. more...

19th December 2011 – The Weekly Standard

Fantasyland Peace Talks with the Taliban

Thomas Joscelyn

The Obama administration is still pursuing negotiations with the Taliban, even if it doubts a viable negotiating partner sits across the table. And, as part of this ad hoc diplomatic effort, the administration is considering the transfer of Taliban members held at Guantanamo back to Afghanistan. more...

14th December 2011 – Al Jazeera English

Inside Story

Sebastian Gorka

Is the principle of indefinite detention without trial now an accepted and permanent part of American life? more...

9th December 2011 – National Review Online

The Real Rules of Detention

Earlier this week, Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) responded to my column from last weekend, which criticized (a) his endorsement of enhanced constitutional protections for alien enemy combatants (the practical effect of his call for a return to pre-9/11 counterterrorism) more...

7th December 2011 – National Review Online

Holy Land Foundation Hamas Support Convictions Affirmed

Given the lengths to which the current administration goes to portray the Muslim Brotherhood — inside and outside the United States — as a “moderate,” “largely secular” organization more...

5th December 2011 – The Weekly Standard

Iran Showed Al Qaeda How to Bomb Embassies

Thomas Joscelyn

In a little noticed ruling on Monday, November 28, a Washington, D.C. district court found that both Iran and Sudan were culpable for al Qaeda’s 1998 embassy bombings. more...

Experts

David B. Rivkin

Senior Fellow

Thomas Joscelyn

Senior Fellow

Events

22nd February 2013 - 9:30 AM

Policy Under Fire: How Should the US Handle the Non-Criminal Detention of Violent Non-State Actors?

A Conversation with Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Dawit Giorgis, Raha Wala and Ben Wittes

Militant fighters have been captured during the war in Mali. This raises questions about whether the American and European positions on preventive detention rest on shaky foundations. Does the fact that Western nations don't do preventive detentions in some way encourage killing rather than capturing enemy forces?

15th October 2012 - 10:15 PM

Is Al-Qaeda Dead? An Experts Debate

In Collaboration with the New America Foundation

While some counterterrorism analysts and officials say that U.S. military efforts over the past 11 years have resulted in the defeat of al-Qaeda, others argue that the terrorist organization is more durable than that. The successes won by the CIA drone program in Pakistan’s tribal regions and the symbolic killing of Osama bin Laden might be tempered by the growing strength of al-Qaeda's affiliates in countries such as Yemen, Somalia, and Libya. On the other hand, many point out that al-Qaeda has failed to carry out a large-scale terrorist attack in the United States since 9/11.