Georgetown Security Law Brief

US targets informal banks allegedly aiding Taliban

06/30/12: The Washington Post reports the Obama Administration imposed sanctions on a pair of informal money-exchange networks in Afghanistan and Pakistan on Friday in what officials described as the first use of the tactic to attack the financial underpinnings of Taliban militants who rely on the system to fund their insurgency.  The sanctions announced by the Treasury Department were coordinated with similar measures adopted by the United Nations as part of a broad effort to slow the flow of cash used by the Taliban to pay salaries and purchase weapons for attacks in Afghanistan.  These informal cash networks, commonly known as hawalas, have long been used by Taliban commanders and other militants to move funds back and forth across the Afghan-Pakistani border.

Report: meeting between Palestinian president and Israeli Vice-PM is delayed

06/30/12: The Miami Herald reports a scheduled high-profile meeting between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Vice-Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz has been postponed indefinitely.  The rare high-level talks would have been a step toward resuming formal peace negotiations, although expectations were low that they would produce any breakthrough.  Senior Palestinian officials did not give a reason for the delay, but Abbas has been under intense pressure in recent days from other Palestinians not to meet with Mofaz on Sunday.  Mofaz heads the centrist Kadima Party and has been urging Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to make another push for a peace deal.  Reports indicated the meeting had not been cancelled entirely and the sides would seek a “proper time and place” for it.

World powers agree on another Syria peace plan

06/30/12: NPR reports an international conference has accepted a UN-brokered peace plan for Syria, but left open whether President Bashar al-Assad could be part of a transitional government.  The US backed away from demands that Assad be excluded, hoping the concession would encourage Russia to put greater pressure on its longtime ally to end the violent crackdown that the opposition says has claimed over 14,000 lives.  US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton insisted that Assad will still have to go, saying it is now “incumbent on Russia and China to show Assad the writing on the wall.”  Moscow had refused to back a provision that would call for Assad to step aside, insisting that outsiders cannot order a political solution for Syria.

Issa reveals classified Fast and Furious wiretap documents from DOJ mole

06/30/12: The Hill reports Representative Darrell Issa (R-Cal.) has revealed portions of sealed wiretap applications related to the botched gun-tracking operation “Fast and Furious.”   Issa entered the sensitive, and previously undisclosed, information into the Congressional Record on Thursday during the floor debate leading up to the passage of his resolution placing Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress.  The powerful Republican is probably protected from what otherwise would be a criminal offense under the Constitution’s Speech and Debate Clause because the remarks were written into the public record during chamber proceedings.  Issa has called his source a “whistleblower” and refused to disclose his or her identity.

US: some Taliban at Guantanamo could go to Afghanistan

06/30/12: The Miami Herald reports the Obama Administration is considering a new gambit to restart peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan.  The proposal would send several Taliban detainees from the military prison at Guantanamo Bay to a prison in Afghanistan.  US and Afghan officials say some Taliban fighters captured in the early days of the 2001 invasion of Afghanistan and later sent to Guantanamo would be transferred to a detention facility adjacent to Bagram air field, the largest US military base in Afghanistan.  The idea is to boost the credibility of the US-backed Afghan government as Afghan President Hamid Karzai and American officials try to draw the Taliban back to negotiations that broke off in March.

US indicts man for aiding al-Qaeda in Yemen

06/30/12: The New York Times reports a man being held in Britain has been indicted in Manhattan on charges that he helped to develop online propaganda for al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Yemen.  He is expected to be sent soon to New York.  The indictment alleges that Minh Quang Pham, 29, traveled to Yemen and took an oath of allegiance to the affiliate, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), received training from the group and provided it with expert advice and assistance in photography and graphic design.

DOJ won't prosecute Holder for contempt

06/30/12: CNN reports the White House and the Justice Department unsurprisingly announced Friday that Attorney General Eric Holder will not face criminal prosecution under the contempt of Congress citation passed by the House of Representatives.  The Department of Justice since the Reagan Administration has had a policy of not prosecuting criminal contempt of Congress when, like here, the action was in pursuance of a presidential invocation of executive privilege.  A letter Friday from DOJ to House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), who led the investigation that brought the contempt charge against Holder, explained that “across administrations of both political parties, the longstanding position of [DOJ] has been and remains that we will not prosecute” in such a circumstance.

Researchers use 'spoofing' to hack into drone

06/30/12: BBC News reports researchers at the University of Texas successfully took control of a flying drone by hacking into its GPS system, acting on a $1,000 dare from the Department of Homeland Security.  Todd Humphreys and his colleagues from the Radionavigation Lab at the University used “spoofing,” a technique where the drone mistakes the signal from hackers for the one sent from GPS satellites.  They demonstrated the technique to DHS officials, using a mini helicopter drone, flown over a stadium in Austin Analysts say that the demo shows the potential danger of using drones, pointing out that if someone managed to gain control of even a non-weaponized surveillance drone, they could easily crash it into a building the way the September 11 hijackers used airplanes.

Air Force investigates growing sex-abuse scandal

06/30/12: The Washington Post reports the Air Force is investigating a growing sexual misconduct scandal in its basic-training operations, with a dozen male boot-camp instructors under suspicion of assaulting, harassing or having sex with female recruits.  The Air Force investigation centers on a unit of boot-camp instructors at Lackland, near San Antonio, where 36,000 recruits undergo basic training each year.  About one-quarter of the instructors in the 331st Training Squadron have either been charged with crimes or are under investigation for sexual misconduct.  One trainer has been charged with raping or sexually assaulting ten recruits.  Senior Air Force officials said they have found problems in other units as well, prompting them to wonder whether the Air Force’s selection process for male instructors is fundamentally flawed.

South Korea postpones signing military data pact with Japan

06/30/12: The New York Times reports the South Korean government on Friday abruptly postponed the signing of its first military cooperation pact with Japan since World War II in the face of mounting political pressure at home.  Now the fate of the agreement has become uncertain as South Korea’s political parties look ahead to a presidential election later this year.  The government and opposition parties agreed Friday to convene the National Assembly on Monday, and the Foreign Ministry said the session would give it a chance to explain and seek parliamentary support for the pact.  The opposition and other government critics vehemently accused the government of trying to rush the agreement through without adequate public debate.

Poll: most in Pakistan view US as enemy

06/29/12: The Hill reports a record number of Pakistanis consider the United States an enemy, according to a new survey from the Pew Global Attitudes Project. The survey found that 74 percent of the Pakistani respondents thought the United States was more of an enemy than a partner, while just 8 percent thought of America as a partner. The percentage of people in Pakistan that think the United States is an enemy has risen the last few years, up from 69 percent in 2011 and 64 percent three years ago. The poll found that America’s favorability rating in Pakistan was at 12 percent, while 80 percent had an unfavorable view. The survey reflects a year of escalating tensions between Washington and Islamabad, as multiple events have strained relations.

Pentagon drops war crimes charges against Guantanamo detainee

06/29/12: The Miami Herald reports the Pentagon on Friday abruptly dropped nearly four-year-old charges against a Kuwaiti captive at Guantanamo Bay.  In the case of Faiz al Kandari, 37, military commissions officials noted that a senior Pentagon official, retired Vice Admiral Bruce MacDonald, dismissed the Bush-era charges “without prejudice,” meaning the Pentagon could once again charge the Kuwaiti with war crimes.  The dismissed charge sheet alleged that Kandari trained with al-Qaeda, served as an advisor to Osama bin Laden and also produced al-Qaeda tapes that recruited men to jihad.  His military defense lawyer had said that Kandari was a Muslim in Afghanistan at the wrong time and the military has built a case based on vague allegations and triple hearsay.

ACLU asks DC Circuit not to delay ruling in drone dispute

06/29/12: The Blog of Legal Times reports the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) asked a federal appeals court in Washington Friday not to delay hearing a dispute over access to any government documents concerning the use of drones to conduct targeted killings.  The Justice Department, representing the CIA, earlier this month asked the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit to send the dispute back to the trial court for additional proceedings.  DOJ’s request followed the government’s June 20 filing in a related Freedom of Information Act case pending in Manhattan federal district court.  In the New York filing, DOJ lawyers urged a trial judge to shut down the litigation, saying, among other things, that the “requests involve highly classified information.”

6th Circuit denies posthumous citizenship request for alleged Nazi Demjanjuk

06/29/12: JURIST reports the US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit on Thursday rejected the request to restore the citizenship of the late John Demjanjuk, a retired Ohio autoworker convicted of being an accessory to over 28,000 murders as a guard at a Nazi extermination camp during the Holocaust.  Demjanjuk died in a nursing home in March pending an appeal of his conviction.  The court ruled that Demjanjuk cannot regain his citizenship, and thus his death has made the case moot.  Both Demjanjuk, up until his death, and now his son, maintain that he was an innocent Soviet prisoner of war who was framed by Germany.

US exempts China and Singapore from sanctions on Iranian oil

06/29/12: The New York Times reports the Obama Administration on Thursday spared China and Singapore from potentially onerous financial penalties required under a strict American law on Iran sanctions, saying that both countries had earned an exemption by significantly reducing their purchases of Iranian crude oil.  Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced the waivers in a statement as the American law, aimed at severely reducing Iran’s ability to export oil, its economic lifeline, formally took effect.  The law is part of a coordinated Western effort to pressure Iran economically because of its disputed nuclear program.  The European Union will impose an embargo on Iranian oil starting this Sunday.  The measures are sure to compound economic pain in Iran, where oil exports this year compared with 2011 have plunged by 40 percent.

US Ambassador to Kenya resigns over "differences" with Washington

06/29/12: The Washington Post reports US Ambassador to Kenya J. Scott Gration announced Friday that he had resigned from his post, citing “differences” with the Obama Administration over his stewardship of the strategic East African nation.  In an e-mailed statement, Gration said “differences with Washington regarding my leadership style and certain priorities lead me to believe that it’s now time to leave.”  A former Air Force major general, Ambassador Gration did not provide specific reasons for why he was moving on from what he described as “his dream job.”  His departure comes as the United States is increasingly concerned about al-Qaeda-linked groups penetrating into the Horn of Africa and using the region as a base for targeting the West and its allies.

Syrian opposition says 190 civilians killed in bloodiest day of uprising this year

06/29/12: The New York Times reports Syrian opposition groups that track casualties said Thursday was the deadliest day so far this year, and possibly in the entire Syrian uprising, with as many as 190 civilians killed in a 24-hour period.  The death toll was scattered in towns and cities throughout Syria, rather than stemming from a single atrocity, with the largest number concentrated in the Damascus suburb of Douma, about eight miles northwest of the city, according to reports from both the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based group, and the Local Coordination Committees, a Syrian-based group.

Divided Supreme Court strikes down Stolen Valor Act

06/29/12: The Supreme Court Thursday invalidated a law making it a crime to lie about having received military honors in what was perhaps the less well-publicized of the two cases it decided.  The Court held, by six votes to three, that the law violated the First Amendment.  Its holding, however, was a divided one - Justice Anthony Kennedy, writing for a plurality of the Court that also included Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor, held that false statements of fact, when not made in the context of fraud, defmation, or some other "historically recognized exception," are entitled to the full protections of the First Amendment and that laws banning them must satisfy strict scrutiny; the Stolen Valor Act did not.  Justice Stephen Breyer, joined by Justice Elena Kagan, concurred in judgment and applied a form of intermediate scrutiny, which the statute also didn't satisfy, but implied a narrower statute could have passed constitutional muster.  Justice Samuel Alito, joined by Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, dissented, arguing that false statements of fact are entitled to no First Amendment protection whatsoever.

New Zealand judge rules anti-piracy raids illegal in blow to US copyright infringement prosecution

06/29/12: Wired reports the US Government’s bid to extradite copyright infringement king Kim Dotcom to the United States was dealt a severe blow Thursday, when a New Zealand High Court judge ruled that the raids on Doctom’s home earlier this year were “illegal.”  The decision may doom the entire prosecution of the founder of the file-sharing site Megaupload; New Zealand authorities are appealing.  Justice Helen Winkelmann said that warrants for the raids “fell well short of” describing the offenses they were meant to relate.  She concluded words such as “breach of copyright” used in the warrants do not provide details of the alleged offense and therefore, the warrants did not comply with New Zealand law.

In historic vote, House finds Attorney General Holder in contempt of Congress

06/29/12: The Blog of Legal Times reports the House of Representatives voted to find Attorney General Eric Holder, Jr. in contempt of Congress this afternoon, a controversial and historic move that almost certainly sets up a battle in federal courts between congressional Republicans and the White House.  At the heart of the contempt resolution are documents the Department of Justice has not turned over to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee as part of a probe into the botched Fast and Furious gun smuggling operation.  From there, the debate spiraled out into partisanship, with Democrats accusing Republicans of a “craven, crass partisan move” and “shameful election-year politicking,” and Republicans accusing Holder of misleading Congress and the White House of hiding something.

US worries payback could follow cyberattack

06/29/12: The Washington Times reports the chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence is warning that recent news reports describing a US role in a cyberattack against Iran’s nuclear program will cost the United States dearly.  The reports, which said the US and Israel were behind the Stuxnet cyberworm that sabotaged Iran’s uranium processing plants in 2009, started “a very dangerous speculation game that we are all going to pay the price for,” said Representative Mike Rogers (R-Mich.)  His comments underline growing concern among some US security officials and private-sector specialists about blowback from the Stuxnet attack itself, like retaliation from Iran, or the proliferation of cyberattacks against the kind of computer-controlled machinery for operations such as factories and city water systems.

Turkey deploys anti-aircraft guns at Syria border

06/28/12: The Miami Herald reports Turkey deployed anti-aircraft guns and other weapons alongside its border with Syria Thursday, days after the downing of a Turkish military jet by Syrian forces heightened the tensions between the two countries.  A small convoy of military trucks, towing anti-aircraft guns, entered into a military base near the border town of Yayladagi, state television showed.  The report said several anti-aircraft guns have also been deployed elsewhere alongside the border.  Turkey has warned Syria to keep its troops away from the countries’ troubled border or risk an armed response.

South Korea to sign historic military pact with Japan

06/28/12: The New York Times reports South Korea said on Thursday that it would sign a treaty with Japan that would encourage the sharing of sensitive military data on their common concerns: North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats and China’s growing military might.  If things go as planned, the pact will be signed on Friday afternoon by the South Korean ambassador to Tokyo, Shin Kak-soo, and Japan’s foreign minister, Koichiro Gemba.  The surprise announcement triggered a political firestorm in South Korea, where resentment of Japan’s early 20th-century colonization remains entrenched and any sign of Japan’s growing military role around Korea is met with deep suspicion.

Agent who started 'Fast and Furious' defends gun-tracking operation

06/28/12: The Washington Post reports despite the wide bipartisan condemnation of the so-called “Operation Fast and Furious,” the agent who oversaw it still believes it was an example of smart law enforcement – an approach that has simply been misunderstood.  “It was the only way to dismantle an entire firearms-trafficking ring and stop the thousands of guns flowing to Mexico,” said William D. Newell, a veteran federal agent who spent five years as the head of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) in Phoenix.  In his first public interview about the operation, Newell said he believed that he and his agents were working the largest gun-trafficking case of their careers and finally had a window into Mexico’s powerful Sinaloa cartel.

Karadzic acquitted on one count of genocide

06/28/12: Al Jazeera reports The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal has acquitted former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic of one of the two genocide charges he faces at the halfway stage of his long-running trial.  Judges said on Thursday that prosecutors did not present enough evidence to support the genocide count covering mass killings, expulsions and persecution by Serb forces of Muslims and Croats from Bosnian towns early in the country’s 1992-1995 war.  But a second charge relating to the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica remains.  Apart from the Srebrenica genocide charge, Karadzic also faces nine other charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in the conflict which left some 100,000 people dead and 2.2 million homeless.

What follows Holder contempt vote?

06/28/12: CNN has this piece describing what might happen if and when the House votes to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress today.  If modern history is any guide, it won't go very far.  The GOP-controlled House is actually set to hold two votes: one for criminal contempt and another authorizing civil action.  The criminal contempt charge would refer the entire dispute to District of Columbia US Attorney Ronald Machen, who would then decide whether to file criminal charges against Holder or others, based on the Justice Department’s refusal to hand over information sought by House Republicans.  Machen, of course, was appointed by President Obama and serves at the pleasure of both the President and Holder himself.

Commentary: The new national security canon

06/28/12: Lawfare features a post by Steve Vladeck discussing how much difficulty plaintiffs have had in suing the US government over post-September 11 governmental abuses.  Vladeck argues the courts have created a “national security canon,” a body of rules unique to national security cases that, at least thus far, all cut against allowing relief in suits that might otherwise be able to proceed to judgment.  The essay suggests that as the national security canon becomes more deeply ingrained, the likelihood increases that it will expand into contexts other than those in which it has thus far been recognized.

Saudi convicted in Texas bomb attempt

06/28/12: The New York Times reports a Saudi man accused of buying chemicals online and trying to use a weapon of mass destruction was found guilty on Wednesday in federal court in Texas.  Khalid Aldawsari, 22, who was legally in the United States on a student visa, was arrested in February 2011 after federal agents secretly searched his apartment near Texas Tech University in Lubbock and found bomb-making chemicals, wiring, a hazmat suit and clocks.  The authorities also discovered Aldawsari’s journal, in which he wrote that he had been planning a terrorist attack in the United States for years, including on former President George W. Bush’s home in Dallas, and that it was “time for jihad.”  He faces up to life in prison.

ACLU launches "torture database" to search interrogation, detention documents

06/28/12: JURIST reports The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) on Tuesday announced the launching of its Torture Database, a collection of more than 100,000 documents from the Bush Administration recording “rendition, detention, and interrogation policies and practices.”  The database was launched in recognition of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the UN Convention Against Torture, which the UN has designated as the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.  The database is composed of documents that the ACLU has obtained largely through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Israeli, Palestinian leaders expected to meet next week

06/28/12: The Boston Globe reports Israeli and Palestinian officials say they expect Israel’s new deputy prime minister to meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas early next week in a bid to restart peace talks.  Negotiations have been frozen for nearly four years.  The Palestinians want Israel to halt settlement construction on occupied lands before talks can resume.  Israel wants negotiations to start without any preconditions.  An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given his deputy, Shaul Mofaz, the green light for the meeting.  Palestinian officials say they are ready to listen to Mofaz’s ideas for resuming dialogue.  Both sides confirmed on Wednesday that the meeting is expected in the coming days.

US-Uganda alliance threatened by anti-gay persecution

06/27/12: Wired reports Uganda’s continued persecution of gays and lesbians is threatening to disrupt the African country’s alliance with the United States in fighting terrorists in Somalia.  In the past four years, the Pentagon and State Department have forged a close, and largely unreported, alliance with the Ugandan military.  A force of 120 American advisers based in Uganda provides training, weapons and supplies, and in exchange Ugandan soldiers bear the brunt of the close fighting in Somalia, a stronghold for Islamic militants.  But Uganda’s escalating crackdown on its gays, lesbians and transgenders has the US indicating that it might cut off that military aid.  Twice in recent years hardline legislators have proposed laws that would make homosexuality a capital offense.  These so-called “Kill the Gays” bills have drawn harsh criticism from Washington and other governments.

Boehner says Holder contempt vote will proceed

06/27/12: CNN reports the House will proceed with a vote Thursday on holding Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for withholding documents involving the failed Fast and Furious weapons crackdown, Speaker John Boehner said Wednesday.  “We’re going to proceed,” Boehner (R-Ohio) told reporters.  “We’ve given them ample opportunity to reply.”  His comment came the day after House Republicans rejected another offer by the White House and Justice Department to turn over some documents sought by congressional investigators.  Administration and Justice officials met Tuesday with senior aides to Boehner and House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Cal.) to try to head off the House vote, which could bring the unprecedented contempt citation of a sitting attorney general.

Republican Senators again demand special counsel to investigate leaks

06/27/12: The Hill reports Republican Senators are unimpressed with new steps the Obama Administration is taking to crack down on leakers, renewing their call for a special counsel to investigate a series of national-security disclosures.  A group of thirty-one Senators sent a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder on Tuesday calling once again for an independent investigation conducted by a special counsel, and Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Cornyn (R-Tex.) said they are considering a congressional investigation as well.  McCain, who has been President Obama’s most vocal critic on the recent series of national security leaks, said he applauded the new measures announced Monday by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper (see below), but that they didn’t do enough to fix the problem.

Senate panel backs bill punishing Russian human rights violators

06/27/12: The New York Times reports Senators of both parties rebuffed President Obama and advanced legislation on Tuesday intended to punish Russian human rights violators despite concern by the White House that it would further complicate already souring relations with Moscow.  The Senate Foreign Relations Committee passed the bill unanimously, less than two weeks after its House counterpart approved a similar measure.  The bill, the Sergei Magnitsky Rule of Law Accountability Act, is named for a Russian lawyer who died in prison after attempting to investigate official corruption.  His death has become a rallying point both in Moscow and in Washington for those critical of the government of President Vladimir Putin.  The bill would block visas and freeze assets of those implicated in human rights abuses.

Netherlands to appeal state liability judgment for Srebenica deaths

06/27/12: JURIST reports the Netherlands plans to appeal a judgment finding its government liable for the death of three Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) during the Srebrenica massacre and forcing it to compensate the men’s families. The Hague Appeals Court last year ruled that Amsterdam was liable for the deaths of three Bosniaks who took refuge in a UN-designated “safe area” controlled by the Dutch battalion (Dutchbat), during the invasion of Srebrenica by Ratko Mladic.  Dutchbat allegedly forced the refugees to leave the compound after which they were killed during the massacre.  The court held that Dutchbat knew that men were being beaten and killed by the invading army and thus should reasonably have known that by forcing the men out of the compound it was putting them in grave danger.

Hamas commander convicted of killing 46 Israelis

06/27/12: Haaretz reports senior Hamas military commander Ibrahim Hamed was found guilty on Wednesday by an Israeli military court for the deaths of forty-six people in terrorist attacks during the Second Intifada.  Hamed, 47, started as a Hamas operative in the 1980’s.  In 2001, he was released from a Palestinian Authority prison and masterminded a string of deadly attacks in Israel.  Hamed was arrested by Israeli forces in the West Bank in 2006.                 Hamed was charged and found guilty on forty-six counts of murder, and for six attempted attacks, including failed bids to blow up an oil refinery and rail lines.  He was acquitted on a charge of attempting to blow up a Tel Aviv club.

Navy attempts cultural shift on sexual assualts

06/27/12: The Miami Herald reports the Navy has put unprecedented attention on the issue of sexual assaults among sailors this year.  High-ranking Navy leaders are likening it to their crusade years ago to stop rampant drug abuse and say it is not only dehumanizing to the victims but also threatens their operational readiness.  The focus is nothing short of an attempt at a significant cultural shift in the Navy, where men and women work in close quarters and often go out drinking together in foreign ports after months at sea.  Navy leaders acknowledge sexual assault is an uncomfortable topic for people to talk about, and that's part of the problem they're trying to fix.  The Navy receives two to three reports of sexual assault a day and has for several years.

Turkey jet incident unlikely to pull NATO into Syria

06/27/12: The Washington Times reports that despite the international community’s harsh condemnations of Syria’s shooting down a Turkish fighter jet, the incident is unlikely to draw NATO into the conflict in the Middle Eastern nation.  For one thing, military action is unlikely to get the support of either the UN Security Council or the Arab League, and outside intervention without the blessing of both of those bodies is all but unthinkable.  And there is little appetite among the twenty-eight NATO countries – of which the U.S. is the largest – for yet another war in the Middle East.  So for the moment, despite the increasing violence and the staggering number of deaths, action by the international community seems to be limited to sanctions and strong words.

Court blocks Florida law barring contracts for businesses tied to Cuba and Syria

06/27/12: JURIST reports the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued a temporary injunction Monday blocking enforcement of a new Florida law that denies government contracts to companies that do business in Cuba or Syria.  The law is currently facing a challenge from Odebrecht Construction Inc., a company that would be affected by the new legislation, arguing that the law is an unconstitutional intrusion in the Federal Government’s authority to regulate foreign affairs.  In issuing the injunction, Judge K. Michael Moore noted that laws like this have not survived in the past.

Tunisia court upholds blasphemy conviction for Muhammad cartoon

06/27/12: The Miami Herald reports a Tunisian appeals court upheld Monday the seven-year sentence for a man convicted of blasphemy for posting cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad on Facebook.  Jaber Majeri was convicted March 28 for posting images of the prophet purportedly being intimate with one of his wives.  He was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and fined $800.  The stiff sentence shocked many Tunisians and was seen as a sign of the new importance of Islamism in Tunisia after the North African country’s secular dictatorship was overthrown last year.

Egypt court strikes down military arrest powers

06/26/12: JURIST reports an Egyptian court on Tuesday struck down a government decree that restored broad arrest powers to military officials. The June Ministry of Justice decree had restored some of the power previously granted to the military through the emergency law, which expired in May after being in effect for nearly thirty years. The court determined Tuesday that the decree interfered with the transfer of power to the president promised in the interim constitution. The decree was to remain in effect until the newly-elected constitutional assembly completed the Egyptian Constitution, but the assembly is not expected to complete a draft of the Constitution for several months. The decision immediately repeals the powers granted in the decree. The Ministry of Justice may appeal the decision.

New rules announced to curb leaks and catch leakers

06/26/12: The New York Times reports Director of National Intelligence James Clapper announced Monday that intelligence officials will face the possibility of additional scrutiny by lie detector tests and a recently established inspector general under new rules intended to deter and detect leaking to news organizations.  The new steps add to the ability of intelligence agencies to conduct their own investigations of potential leakers, even if the Justice Department decides that no criminal case can be brought.  The first step Clapper announced relates to a counterespionage polygraph examination officials take when they join an intelligence agency.  Typically, it is readministered every seven years.  From now on, besides asking about contact with foreign spies, examiners will ask the officials whether they leaked any restricted information.

NATO chief condemns Syria for shooting down Turkish jet

06/26/12: Al Jazeera reports the head of the NATO military alliance called the downing of a Turkish jet by Syrian forces unacceptable on Tuesday, shortly after Turkey briefed NATO’s North Atlantic Council in discussions held under Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which allows a member to request consultations if its security has been threatened.  NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the alliance condemned the incident “in the strongest terms,” and expressed solidarity with Turkey, but made no mention of retaliatory action.  Turkey’s prime minister, responding to the downing of the jet in a speech to the AK party’s parliamentary group, said Tuesday that Turkish military will respond to any future violation of its border by Syrian military elements.

Yugoslavia war crimes prosecutor seeks 20-year sentence for former Kosovo PM

06/26/12: JURIST reports prosecutors in the retrial of Ramush Haradinaj, a Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) commander and former prime minister of Kosovo, on Monday asked the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to give him a sentence of at least twenty years.  Prosecutor Paul Rogers told the court that he believed this was the minimum sentence appropriate for his crimes. Haradinaj, who faces numerous war crimes charges, was originally acquitted of all charges in 2008.  The ICTY appeals chamber later overturned the acquittals [JURIST report] of Haradinaj and two others in July 2010, after finding that the integrity of the original proceedings was compromised.  Haradinaj’s retrial began in August 2011.

DOJ orders Pentagon to preserve materials related to leak investigation

06/26/12: CNN reports Defense Department officials are under a Justice Department order to preserve all e-mails and documents that may be related to the ongoing investigation into leaks to the news media of national security information.  “We are complying with the preservation order,” a senior Pentagon official said Monday.  DOD may not delete or destroy any e-mails or documents that might be related to the leak investigation.  The order potentially could cover thousands of civilian and military personnel who work on military intelligence and surveillance programs. It also could include members of the Defense Intelligence Agency and other organizations, such as the National Security Agency, which focus to a large extent on eavesdropping overseas.  However, the official said the Justice Department is clear it’s only interested in information related to the current leak investigation.

Indian police arrest suspect in 2008 Mumbai attacks

06/26/12: The New York Times reports police in New Delhi have arrested a man suspected of being one of the planners of the 2008 attacks in Mumbai that killed more than 160 people.  The police did not provide the suspect’s name, referring to him only by the alias Abu Jindal, but Indian news media reports have identified him as Sayeed Zabiudeen Ansari.  The man, thought to be a member of the militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, is accused of delivering instructions by telephone to ten heavily armed Pakistanis as they were carrying out the two-day siege that terrorized Mumbai with attacks on a railroad station, a major hotel, restaurants and a Jewish center.

Holder contempt vote set for Thursday

06/26/12: The Hill reports the House plans to vote Thursday on a resolution that would hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for failing to produce documents in the “Fast and Furious” gun-running investigation.  A spokeswoman for Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) confirmed on Monday that the vote is scheduled for Thursday. Republicans have said the vote could be postponed if Holder complies with subpoenas issued by the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, but President Obama has invoked executive privilege to shield Holder from releasing them.  The oversight committee, led by Representative Darrell Issa (R-Cal.), voted along party lines last week to recommend a contempt citation.  A vote by the full House would escalate a confrontation between House Republicans and the Obama administration that could wind up in court.

Egypt's president-elect is US critic, but could be an ally

06/26/12: The Washington Post reports US officials and analysts have expressed guarded optimism that Washington can build a strong working relationship with incoming Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, whose victory was confirmed Sunday.  Morsi and his aides say that they, too, are upbeat about the future of Egypt’s relationship with the United States, though not without caveats.  Much of the hope is based on pragmatism: at least in the immediate future, any ideological objections to US policy are likely to take a back seat to Morsi’s need to stabilize Egypt and improve its floundering economy, both of which will require help from Washington.  Still, questions remain about the extent of his powers and the degree to which he will be beholden to the Muslim Brotherhood’s secretive leaders.

Yemen says al-Qaeda land mines killed 73 this week

06/26/12: The Miami Herald reports Yemeni officials say land mines planted by al-Qaeda militants before they fled from key southern strongholds have killed seventy-three civilians over the past week.  The governor’s office in Zinjibar, the provincial capital of Abyan, says engineering teams have removed some 3,000 land mines around the city and near the southern town of Jaar.  The killed civilians were residents of the area.  Government troops captured both towns after a two-month offensive to uproot al-Qaeda fighters from large swaths of land they captured during last year’s political turmoil.

Supreme Court strikes down most of Arizona immigration law

06/25/12: The US Supreme Court invalidated three of the four key provisions of Arizona's immigration law Monday, holding that they impermissibly conflicted with federal policy.  Speaking through Justice Anthony Kennedy, the Court struck down provisions of the law that made it illegal (under state law) to be in the United States illegally or for illegal immigrants to apply for work in Arizona, as well as a provision that permitted police to perform warrantless arrests of individuals whom the police have probable cause to believe had committed a deportable offense.  However, the Court upheld, at least in this stage of the litigation, the controversial provisions of the law requiring police to check the immigration status of arrestees and allowing them to stop and detain suspected illegals.  The Court concluded that, at least on its face and before it went into effect or was construed by Arizona's courts, there wasn't a sufficient showing that this section was preempted.

Justice Kennedy's opinion for the Court was joined by Chief Justice John Roberts and Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, and Sonia Sotomayor.  Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel Alito largely dissented; they would have upheld the statute in its entirety.  Justice Elena Kagan, who had worked on the case in the lower courts as Solicitor General, did not participate.