Georgetown Security Law Commentary

Guantanamo tribunal may resume

09/29/11: The LA Times reports that the Guantanamo Bay war crimes tribunal may stir back to life next month after the Pentagon filed capital charges Wednesday against a Saudi prisoner in the 2000 attack on the U.S. destroyer Cole in a Yemeni port.

Scholarship: An Exchange on Law and Israel's Gaza Campaign

"An Exchange on Law and Israel's Gaza Campaign" (ABA National Security Law Report, Feb. 2009) by David Luban (Georgetown Law) and Amos Guiora (University of Utah).  This exchange on "Operation Cast Lead" - Israel's December 2008-January 2009 campaign in the Gaza Strip-includes essays by Guiora and Luban, followed by Guiora's response to Luban's essay and Luban's response to Guiora's. Luban argues that the Gaza campaign violated both the jus ad bellum and jus in bello proportionality principles. He also argues that the Hamas civil administration were not lawful targets under Israel's own interpretation of the law of armed conflict. Guiora argues that terrorism changes the landscape of armed conflict and requires a reconfiguration of international law. Under this reconfiguration, an entire terrorist organization may properly be targeted.

Scholarship: "Enacting Counter Terrorism Financing Laws in the UAE and Bahrain: The Fusion of Global Pressures, Regional Dynamics, and Local Interests"

"Enacting Counter Terrorism Financing Laws in the UAE and Bahrain: The Fusion of Global Pressures, Regional Dynamics, and Local Interests" (Mediterranean Programme, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, European University Institute) Carlos L. Yordan (Drew University).  After the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1373, obligating all states to enact new laws that criminalized activities related to terrorism, and making laws against terrorism financing a priority. This paper analyzes the reasons that inform the UAE's and Bahrain's decision to comply with these financial standards. Both are becoming important global financial hubs and their compliance has been used to attract foreign investments. Moreover conformity with these rules, which are similar to the ones found in the USA PATRIOT Act, shows their commitment to Washington's global war on terror, but without having to publicly support America's strategies.  HT to National Security Advisors.

Scholarship: "Ghosts of Halabja Saddam Hussein and the Kurdish Genocide"

"Ghosts of Halabja Saddam Hussein and the Kurdish Genocide" by Michael J. Kelly (Creighton). This book argues that Saddam Hussein's execution for his crimes against Iraq's Shi'a freed him from similar charges against him by the Kurds. The atrocities visited by Saddam upon the Kurds of Iraq are explored here together with the trials of Saddam by the Iraqi High Tribunal -- both the completed prosecution for the Dujail massacre against the Shi'ites and the incomplete one for the Anfal Campaigns against the Kurds. HT to National Security Advisors.