Georgetown Security Law Brief

Commentary: Iran ramps up courtship of Latin America

12/31/11: Reuters features a commentary piece by Bernd Debusmann concerning Iran’s recent diplomatic efforts in Latin America. Debusmann contends that American foreign policy on Latin America has gone through cycles of neglect and concern for decades. It’s in a cycle of concern again, prompted by an Iranian campaign to make friends and influence people in the American backyard. Washington’s message to Iran’s Latin friends – don’t get too close – does not appear to impress them.

Colorado mall bomber pleads guilty to one count

12/31/11: The Denver Post reports that a man has acknowledged planting a homemade bomb at a Colorado shopping mall on the 12th anniversary of the Columbine High School shootings. Earl Albert Moore, 56, pleaded guilty in Denver federal court Friday to one count of using a destructive device in a crime of violence.  An April 20 fire at the Southwest Plaza Mall in Littleton and the discovery of the bomb raised fears it was timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 1999 school shootings at nearby Columbine in which two students killed 13 people and then themselves.

Somalis scramble for way to send relatives money

12/31/11: ABC News reports that Somalis caught off guard when more than a dozen Minnesota businesses stopped accepting wire transfers said Friday they were scrambling to find a way to get money to relatives in East Africa and options mentioned by the US Treasury weren't realistic. Somalis in the US use the businesses, known as hawalas, to send money to relatives in the famine-stricken nation and nearby refugee camps because Somalia hasn't had a functioning government since 1991 and has no banking system.

US ambassador leaves El Salvador after Senate vote

12/31/11: The Boston Globe reports that US Ambassador Mari Carmen Aponte is saying her goodbyes in El Salvador after Senate Republicans refused to ratify her in the post. Aponte has drawn fire for an editorial she wrote in a Salvadoran newspaper advocating acceptance of gays and lesbians, and long-standing rumors of past involvement with a man once believed linked to Cuban intelligence agencies. She has been serving under a recess appointment by President Barack Obama since September 2010.

Al Qaeda leader sends veteran jihadists to establish presence in Libya

12/30/11: CNN reports that Al Qaeda's leadership has sent experienced jihadists to Libya in an effort to build a fighting force there, according to a Libyan source briefed by Western counter-terrorism officials. The jihadists include one veteran fighter who had been detained in Britain on suspicion of terrorism. The source describes him as committed to al Qaeda's global cause and to attacking US interests. The source told CNN that the al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, personally dispatched the former British detainee to Libya earlier this year as the Gadhafi regime lost control of large swathes of the country.

European Union mulls new powers for piracy mission

12/30/11: The Columbus Telegram reports that German officials say the European Union is considering expanding the scope of its anti-piracy mission off the Horn of Africa to allow the destruction of pirates' equipment on the beaches of Somalia. The EU's anti-piracy force patrols the seas off the coast of the country. German Foreign Ministry spokesman Andreas Peschke said Friday that the "limited destruction of piracy logistics on the beach" is under discussion but "no deployment on land."

Iraqi man arrested on suspicion of helping 5 Iraqis, al-Qaida members, hide in Romania

12/30/11: The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that prosecutors have arrested an Iraqi man on the suspicion he helped five of his countrymen who were members of al-Qaida hide in Romania. Prosecutors said Friday that Mohamad Al Dulaimi created phantom companies in Romania, starting in 2006, to allow the Iraqis to travel in and out of the country. They said in a statement that the men were wanted for terrorist attacks in Iraq, but provided no further details. Prosecutors said Al Dulaimi will be indicted on charges that he helped terrorists.

Court approves immunity for telecoms in wiretap case

12/30/11: Bloomberg News reports that the US government’s decision to shield telecommunications companies from lawsuits alleging an anti-terrorism surveillance program violated consumers’ privacy rights was upheld by a federal appeals court. The US Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled that an amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, granting immunity from lawsuits to AT&T Inc. and other companies doesn’t violate constitutional due process rights of citizens who sued carriers whom they alleged assisted the government in illegal wiretapping.

Pakistan judicial commission to probe memo scandal

12/30/11: The Seattle Times reports that police say a car bomb has exploded outside the home of a local politician in southwest Pakistan, killing at least nine people. Police officer Nazir Ahmed Kurd says Friday's blast in an upscale neighborhood in Quetta also wounded 21 people. It was unclear if the politician, Shafique Mengal, was home at the time. Mengal is the son of Naseer Mengal, a prominent politician who had served as oil minister during the tenure of former President Pervez Musharraf.

Russia says nuclear submarine fire has been doused, no radiation leak

12/30/11: The Washington Post reports that firefighters extinguished a massive fire aboard a docked Russian nuclear submarine Friday as some crew members remained inside, officials said, giving assurances that there was no radiation leak and the vessel’s nuclear-tipped missiles were not on board. Military prosecutors have launched an investigation into whether safety regulations were breached. President Dmitry Medvedev summoned top Cabinet officials to report on the situation and demanded punishment for anyone found responsible.

DHS launches hot line for jailed immigrants

12/30/11: The Sacramento Bee reports that the Homeland Security Department is launching a hot line for people jailed on immigration charges who believe they are victims of crime or may be US citizens. The toll free hot line will be staffed 24 hours a day and run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement to answer questions from people held in local jails about whether they may face deportation proceedings.

Iran central bank to file motion in US court to unfreeze funds

12/30/11: The Economic Times reports that Bank Markazi, Iran's central bank, is preparing to file a motion in a New York federal court early in February asking for the release of about $2 billion of its frozen funds at Citigroup's Citibank unit, the Wall Street Journal said, citing attorneys for the bank.  A US court froze the assets in 2008 after a group of victims sought the funds as partial payment for a $2.7 billion legal judgment made against Tehran for its alleged role in the 1983 Beirut bombing, the Journal said. The bomb attacks against US and French armed forces, in Lebanon for a peacekeeping operation, claimed nearly 300 lives.

Argentina adopts wide definition of terrorism

12/29/11: The Chicago Tribune reports that Argentina enacted a law on Wednesday providing a wide definition of terrorism that critics fear will allow the state to jail people for up to 15 years for activities as diverse as marching in protests or pulling money out of banks. The law, approved by Congress last week, seeks to punish anyone who "terrorizes" the population, leaving the definition of the term open. The government of recently re-elected President Cristina Fernandez says the measure is needed to meet anti-money-laundering standards set forth by the Financial Action Task Force, a multinational policy-making body.

US, Saudi Arabia strike $30 billion arms deal

12/29/11: The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration on Thursday announced an arms deal with Saudi Arabia valued at nearly $30 billion, an agreement that will send 84 F-15 fighter jets and assorted weaponry to the kingdom. The administration notified Congress last year of its intent to sell the advanced jets to Saudi Arabia, a key US ally in the Middle East and a strategic bulwark against Iran. The final agreement — which also includes the modernization of 70 existing aircraft as well as munitions, spare parts, training and maintenance — comes at a time of increased tensions in the Persian Gulf.

US sanctions money launderers for cartels

12/29/11: The Boston Herald reports that the Obama administration has hit two men with sanctions for allegedly laundering money on behalf of Mexican and Colombian drug cartels. The move blocks any assets in the US belonging to Lebanese-Colombian nationals Jorge Fadlallah Cheaitelly and Mohamad Zouheir El Khansa, and blocks Americans from doing business with them. The Treasury Department said Cheaitelly leads a Panama-based drug trafficking and money laundering organization with operations as far as Hong Kong. El Khansa is seen as a key partner.

Former Argentine dictator who was convicted of torture in hospital

12/29/11: The Associated Press reports that Argentina's last dictator was convicted Thursday of more crimes against humanity, this time getting 15 years in prison for setting up a secret torture center inside a hospital during the 1976 military coup. Reynaldo Bignone personally oversaw the takeover of the Posadas de Haedo hospital in Buenos Aires province 35 years ago, leading soldiers in tanks and helicopters in search of medical personnel who allegedly treated leftist guerrillas. The military dismissed all the doctors and nurses, but kept some for questioning, including the hospital's medical director. Eleven hospital staffers disappeared.

Pakistani death squads go after informants to US drone program

12/29/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that Militant groups lack the ability to bring down the drones, which have killed senior Al Qaeda and Taliban commanders as well as many foot soldiers. Instead, a collection of them have banded together to form Khorasan Mujahedin in the North Waziristan tribal region to hunt for those who sell information about the location of militants and their safe houses. Pakistani officials and tribal elders maintain that most of those who are abducted this way are innocent, but after being beaten, burned with irons or scalded with boiling water, almost all eventually "confess." And few ever come back.

China reveals its space plans up to 2016

12/29/11: The Denver Post reports that China plans to launch space labs and manned ships and prepare to build space stations over the next five years, according to a plan released Thursday that shows the country's space program is gathering momentum. China has already said its eventual goals are to have a space station and put an astronaut on the moon. It has made methodical progress with its ambitious lunar and human spaceflight programs, but its latest five-year plan beginning next year signals an acceleration.

Saudi women to run and vote without male approval

12/28/11: The Miami Herald reports that a Saudi official says for the first time, women in the conservative kingdom will not need a male guardian's approval to run or vote in municipal elections in 2015. Shura Council member Fahad al-Anzi says that approval for women has already come from the Saudi king. The country's Shura Council is an all-male consultative body with no legislative powers. The state-run al-Watan newspaper announced the change Wednesday. Even so, women in Saudi Arabia cannot travel, work, study abroad, marry, get divorced or gain admittance to a public hospital without permission from a male guardian.

Russia slams US for its human rights record

12/28/11: The Miami Herald reports that Russia's Foreign Ministry has attacked the US human rights record in a report on injustice and violations around the globe. In the paper published on Wednesday, Moscow criticized President Barack Obama for "legalizing indefinite and extrajudicial custody and the return of court-martials." In its first-ever report on breaches of human rights abroad, Russia focused on EU nations, Canada and Georgia, but the longest section of the report highlights violations in the US.

US extradites war crimes suspect to Bosnia

12/27/11: The Miami Herald reports that Bosnian authorities say the United States has extradited a Muslim Bosnian woman accused of killing Bosnian Croat civilians during the 1990s conflict in the region. The prosecutor's office said Tuesday that Rasema Handanovic, 38, has arrived in Bosnia and will appear in front of judges Wednesday. Handanovic was extradited a week after the US handed over her comrade Edin Dzeko, who is accused of taking part in the same killings. Both are alleged to have belonged to a Bosnian Army unit that attacked the southern Bosnian Croat village of Trusina in 1993, killing 18 civilians.

F-35 production a troubling example of Pentagon spending

12/27/11: The Washington Post reports that there are 56 F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighters being assembled at Lockheed Martin’s facility in Fort Worth. But because only 20 percent of the testing for the most advanced fighter-bomber in US history is completed, each will probably have to get million-dollar-or-more fixes later. The F-35 is already the most costly US weapons program underway at about $385 billion. But that figure may go higher with overrun of the per-plane contract price for the 56 craft being assembled — along with the future multimillion-dollar fixes likely to be required for them — and the 15 F-35s completed but not yet delivered to the military services.

China launches own GPS system

12/27/11: The Wall Street Journal reports that China has begun operating a homegrown satellite navigation service that is designed to provide an alternative to the US Global Positioning System and, according to defense experts, could help the Chinese military to identify, track and strike US ships in the region in the event of armed conflict. The Beidou Navigation Satellite System started providing initial positioning, navigation and timing services to China and its "surrounding areas" on Tuesday, Ran Chengqi, a spokesman for the system, told a news conference.

Iraqi interpreters for US military in dangerous limbo

12/27/11: The Los Angeles Times reports that when interpreters like Tariq, 27, served the US military, they lived on a secure base, safe from fellow Iraqis determined to kill them because of their service to America. But when the unit Tariq served pulled out of Iraq on October 13, he was dismissed and escorted off the base. The US government promised Tariq and thousands of other former interpreters that they would be first in line for special visas to the United States. But with the pace of visa approvals having slowed to a crawl, that promise rings hollow for Tariq, who stays locked in his parents' home tracking his application.

Al Qaeda in Iraq claims responsibility for recent attacks

12/27/11: CNN reports that al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility Tuesday for a string of attacks that killed almost 70 people and wounded more than 200. "The series of special invasions launched, under the guidance of the Ministry of War in the Islamic State of Iraq, to support the weak Sunnis in the prisons of the apostates and to retaliate for the captives who were executed," the group said on an al Qaeda website. A recent political crisis has raised fears of a return of the sectarian bloodshed in Iraq that ripped the country apart at the height of the war a few years back.

House Democrat says Iranian regime will self-destruct

12/26/11: The Hill reports that a House Democrat is saying that, rather than confront Iran over its nuclear arms program, the US would be better served by letting the Iranian regime crumble from internal friction. Amid calls from Republicans and Democrats to pressure Tehran anew to halt the program with tougher economic sanctions or even a military strike, Rep. Jim Moran (D-Va.), a member of the House Appropriations subcommittee on Defense, told The Hill he is dismayed by what he called a growing drumbeat on Capitol Hill to use military force against Iran. Some analysts agree, but foreign policy experts are critical of the view. 

Training upped for Afghan forces

12/26/11: POLITICO reports that Afghanistan and the US-led coalition have stepped up training of the Afghan special forces unit to fill the vacuum that will be left by foreign troops slated to end their combat mission in 2014. In the future, it will be Afghan special forces countering insurgents in villages across the country. As the force expands, they will also lead more of the controversial house searches - something that could mitigate Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s intense opposition to the nighttime raids by international troops that Afghans have found culturally offensive.

Iraq agrees to move Iranian dissidents from Camp Ashraf

12/26/11: The Washington Post reports that the United Nations and the Iraqi government agreed to relocate several thousand Iranian exiles living in a camp in northeastern Iraq, potentially averting a showdown with its residents. The dissidents, who have not said whether they would agree to move, reported a rocket attack on the camp. The People’s Mujahedeen Organization of Iran, one-time allies of Saddam Hussein in a common fight against Iran, said Katyusha rockets struck near housing units inside the camp on Sunday night, but did not report any casualties.

Secret Guantánamo cell block cost nearly $700,000

12/26/11: The Miami Herald reports that a once-secret Guantánamo cellblock now used to punish captives was built in November 2007 for $690,000 from a crude, then 5-year-old temporary prison camp design. Navy Cmdr. Tamsen Reese confirmed the existence of the block earlier this month, and released a photo of one steel-walled cell after detainee defenders called conditions inhumane. It’s called Camp Five-Echo, and “serves as a disciplinary block for those non-compliant detainees in Camps 5 and 6,” Reese said in an email Friday that for the first time revealed the cost of the 4-year-old prison camps construction project.

US prepares for a curtailed relationship with Pakistan

12/26/11: The New York Times reports that with the United States facing the reality that its broad security partnership with Pakistan is over, American officials are seeking to salvage a more limited counterterrorism alliance that they acknowledge will complicate their ability to launch attacks against extremists and move supplies into Afghanistan. The United States will be forced to restrict drone strikes, limit the number of its spies and soldiers on the ground and spend more to transport supplies through Pakistan to allied troops in Afghanistan, American and Pakistani officials said. United States aid to Pakistan will also be reduced.

Iran rejects 9/11 involvement after US judgment implicates them

12/26/11: JURIST reports that Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast denied that Iran was actively involved in the 9/11 attacks after allegations in Thursday's default judgment in Havlish v. Bin Laden. A Southern District of New York judge granted the plaintiffs' motion for judgment against Iran, its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Kharmenei, former Iranian president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and several other sovereign defendants holding that they are liable under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976 for knowingly aiding al Qaeda through Hezbollah in the 9/11 attack.

Obama signs NDAA and issues signing statement

12/24/11: The New York Times reports that President Obama signed the defense authorization bill on Friday.  When doing so, he also issued a signing statement claiming a right to bypass dozens of provisions that placed requirements or restrictions on the executive branch, saying he had “well-founded constitutional objections” to the new statutes. Among them, he singled out two sections barring the use of money to transfer prisoners from the naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, into the United States and limiting the ability of the government to transfer them to the custody or control of foreign countries.

Human rights advocate says Afghan president fired him

12/23/11: The Boston Globe reports that Afghanistan's leading human rights activist said Friday that President Hamid Karzai has fired him and two others from the government's own rights commission. The claim came as the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission was working on a landmark report about abuses in the country. The United States and the European Union are worried that such violations, along with widespread corruption, are undermining their efforts to stabilize the nation and defeat the stubborn Taliban insurgency -- threatening their goal of crafting a strong central government to take over when NATO leaves.

Pakistani prime minister warns of coup plot

12/23/11: The Washington Post reports that Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani warned Thursday of a conspiracy to oust the government, signaling that tension between his civilian administration and Pakistan’s powerful army might be close to a breaking point. Gilani’s remarks come amid a widening scandal involving a secret memo that his administration supposedly sent to Washington in the spring asking for help to avert a possible coup. “There can be no state within a state,” Gilani said during an event commemorating the birth of Pakistan’s founder. “People will have to decide whether they want elected people or a dictatorship in the country.”

Judge dismisses lawsuit brought by former GTMO detainee

12/23/11: The BLT reports that US District Court Judge Richard Leon on Thursday tossed out the lawsuit of a former Guantanamo Bay detainee seeking damages for the alleged physical and psychological abuse he was subjected to at the US military base. Syrian national Abdul Rahim Abdul Razak Al Janko's case was dismissed on the grounds that “Congress has specifically barred the Judicial Branch from reviewing ‘any aspect of the detention...treatment...or conditions of confinement of an alien who is or was detained by the United States and has been determined by the United States to have been properly detained as an enemy combatant or is awaiting such determination.’”

NYT files lawsuit to get al-Awlaki targeted killing memo

12/23/11: CNN reports that the New York Times has filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice charging that the government failed to release information under the Freedom of Information Act on records surrounding questions of the legality of targeted killing, especially as it relates to American citizens. The lawsuit revolves around the death of Anwar al-Awlaki, the Yemeni-American cleric who was killed by a US drone strike in September in Yemen.

Germany says impounded Patriot missiles were legitimate

12/22/11: The Miami Herald reports that a shipment of 69 surface-to-air missiles impounded by Finnish authorities was a legitimate delivery from Germany to South Korea, a German official said Thursday. The announcement came after Finnish authorities seized the Patriot missiles and 160 tons of explosives on a British-registered cargo ship and detained two Ukrainian crew members on suspicion of violating weapons export laws. Police said the missiles didn't have the right transit documents and the explosive picric acid wasn't properly stored on the M/S Thor Liberty, which docked in Kotka, southern Finland, on December 15.

Israel cancels $141m defense deal with Turkey

12/22/11: The Washington Post reports that Israel has canceled a $141 million defense deal with Turkey, a reflection of the steep deterioration in relations between the former allies. Israeli officials said Thursday they are concerned that Turkey could deliver the state-of-the-art airborne intelligence units to third parties hostile to Israel. They said the deal was signed in 2008. Officials in Israel’s Defense Ministry and Elbit Systems, the manufacturer of the system, confirmed the deal was called off. They spoke on condition of anonymity because of the diplomatic sensitivity of the matter. 

Yemen kills brother of country's Al-Qaeda leader

12/22/11: ABC News reports that Yemeni security and military officials say a brother of Yemen's al-Qaeda leader was among five people killed in the latest of a series of battles raging for days in the south of the country. A member of a local tribe confirmed that Abdel-Rahman al-Wahishi was killed. He is a younger brother of Nasser al-Wahishi, a Yemeni who once served as Osama bin Laden's personal aide in Afghanistan and now leads al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula. The group was behind several nearly successful attempts to attack US targets and Washington believes it is the most dangerous of al-Qaeda's offshoots.

NY man sues airlines for Detroit "underwear bomber" attack

12/22/11: The Miami Herald reports that Theophilus Maranga from New York has sued two airlines for $10 million in damages for injuries he says he incurred when he jumped on Farouk Abdulmutallab, who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with a bomb in his underwear. He named as defendants Delta Air Lines, Inc., Air France-KLM and Abdulmutallab, who awaits sentencing after admitting he tried to blow up the plane. Maranga claims the airlines were negligent to let Abdulmutallab aboard. He says he suffered numerous injuries after jumping on him when he tried to bring down a Christmas 2009 Amsterdam-to-Detroit flight with 290 people aboard.

Iran blocks UK website in new diplomatic spat

12/22/11: The Boston Globe reports that Iran has blocked access to a British government website aimed at Iranian audiences in a new act of aggression against the UK, Britain's Foreign Secretary said Thursday. William Hague claimed that the website -- the online presence of Britain's now shuttered embassy in Tehran -- had been deliberately targeted by the Iranian regime. The decision to disrupt access to the site follows the violent storming of Britain's embassy by demonstrators last month, when a mob trashed rooms, damaged furniture, scrawled graffiti and tore up a portrait of Queen Victoria, as staff took shelter.

Rwanda genocide tribunal sentences former political leaders to life in prison

12/22/11: JURIST reports that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on Wednesday sentenced former Rwandan political party leaders, Matthieu Ngirumpatse and Edouard Karemera, to life in prison for their role in the 1994 Rwandan Genocide. The court was unanimous in condemning Ngirumpatse, who was the chairman of Rwanda's then-ruling National Revolutionary Movement for Development (NRMD) party. In confirming the life sentence handed down to Karemera, the former deputy leader of the NRMD, the court found the two were in a "joint criminal enterprise" intent on exterminating Tusis and bore "superior responsibility" for the NRMD's youth wing—the Interahamwe—that conducted most of the crimes.

Ex-Soviet states aid US transit as Pakistan relations deteriorate

12/22/11: The Washington Times reports that the United States is increasingly relying on three transit routes snaking through Central Asia, Russia and the Caucuses to ship nonmilitary supplies and fuel into Afghanistan as the deteriorating relationship between Washington and Pakistan closes off border crossings, according to a Senate report obtained by the Associated Press. Use of the Northern Distribution Network to supply US and coalition forces has been crucial in the war against terrorism, and its role underscores the political and strategic importance of the Central Asian nations on the front lines of the conflict.

Qaddafi's son is still alive but that's about all that's certain

12/21/11: The Atlantic Wire reports that Muammar Qaddafi's son and heir apparent, Saif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, is alive and in the custody of a Libyan rebel militia, but while he's physically well, his situation and his future are as uncertain as the status of Libya's own government. Qaddafi, who hasn't been heard from since he was captured on November 19, told Human Rights Watch that he hadn't been given access to a lawyer nor had he been allowed to see his family as he awaited a trial on crimes against humanity. "No date has been set for his trial, nor is it clear whether he will be tried in Libya, whose justice system is in disarray, or by the ICC in The Hague.

Research on bird flu may be censored on security concern

12/21/11: Business Week reports that scientists agreed not to publish certain details of research showing how lethal bird flu can be made contagious after a US biosecurity panel asked that it be kept secret for security reasons. The study at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam described the genetic changes needed to make the H5N1 avian influenza strain spread easily among ferrets and potentially people. The research is under review for publication in the journal Science. It was commissioned by the US National Institutes of Health.

Boston jury finds Tarek Mehanna guilty of material support

12/21/11: The Boston Globe reports that Tarek Mehanna, the pharmacy college graduate from the quiet, affluent suburb of Sudbury, was convicted yesterday of providing material support to Al Qaeda, in a swift and sweeping verdict that found he sought paramilitary training in Yemen so he could carry out jihad, or holy war, against US soldiers in Iraq. Mehanna was also convicted of using his knowledge of Arabic to translate and distribute documents promoting Al Qaeda’s ideology, to inspire others to violent jihad. The 29-year-old remained calm and poised as the verdict of guilty was announced repeatedly in US District Court in Boston.

Korean firm accused of illegal US military exports

12/21/11: The Miami Herald reports that a South Korean company has been indicted in Cleveland on allegations it illegally exported infrared technology used by the US military. Federal authorities said Tuesday that EO System Co. Ltd. and three South Korean citizens are accused of exporting five telescopes from the US to their country in 2005 without required US government approval. EO System's attorney Don Randolph says he has been in communication with the government about the matter for several years. The Santa Monica, California, lawyer says EO System intends to plead not guilty and press on with its defense.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/12/20/2555419/korean-firm-accused-of-illegal.html#storylink=cpy

US keeps biometrics database of three million Iraqis

12/21/11: WIRED reports that US Central Command, the military command responsible for troops in the Mideast and South Asia, confirms to Danger Room that the biometrics database, compiled by US troops over the course of years, will remain US property. “Centcom has the database,” says the command’s chief spokesman, Army Major T.G. Taylor, who says it contains files on three million Iraqis. Iraqis aren’t the only ones to wind up in huge US biometrics databases. Afghans, too, have been scanned by the millions. As far back as 2005, detainee biometric data from both Iraqis and Afghans turned up in a DoD DNA Registry.

Secrecy defines Obama’s drone war

12/20/11: The Washington Post reports that since September, at least 60 people have died in 14 reported CIA drone strikes in Pakistan’s tribal regions. The Obama administration has named only one of the dead, hailing the elimination of Janbaz Zadran, a top official in the Haqqani insurgent network, as a counterterrorism victory. The identities of the rest remain classified, as does the existence of the drone program itself. Because the names of the dead and the threat they were believed to pose are secret, it is impossible for anyone without access to US intelligence to assess whether the deaths were justified.

Brothers in alleged NC terror ring face sentencing

12/20/11: The Sacramento Bee reports that two brothers who pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to support terrorists will learn their sentences Tuesday in North Carolina for their roles in a home-grown terror cell federal prosecutors say plotted attacks under their father's leadership. Twenty-five-year-old Dylan Boyd and 22-year-old Zakariya Boyd could be sentenced by US District Judge Louise Flanagan to a maximum of 15 years in prison, but both cooperated with prosecutors and expect lesser sentences.