Accountability
347 Articles
“New Torture Files”: Declassified Memos Detail Roles of Bush White House and DOJ Officials Who Conspired to Approve Torture
An alleged CIA prison near Kabul, Afghanistan. Image credit: Trevor Paglen via Wikimedia Commons. Last week, I wrote, both here and in the New York Times, that after reading all…
One Way Sri Lanka Can Shield its ex-Defense Secretary from a U.S. Criminal Prosecution
Last week, Sri Lanka’s Justice Deputy Minister responded to an Op-Ed that I published in the New York Times, in which I described reasons that the United States can and should…
The Gov’t of Sri Lanka Responds to my NYT Op-Ed on U.S. War Crimes Probe of ex-Defense Secretary
The government of Sri Lanka’s Justice Deputy Minister has responded to an Op-Ed that I published in the New York Times in which I described the reasons that the United States…
How the U.S. Can Help Sri Lanka Turn the Corner—with a targeted war crimes prosecution
The Obama administration helped catalyze the United Nations’ ongoing efforts to bring accountability in Sri Lanka for mass war crimes committed in that country’s civil…
A Precedent for Post-Strike Investigations for Civilian Casualties in War
In reflecting on 2014, I thought about an overlooked moment for issues of transparency and accountability in military operations. A heated debate in international law is whether…
Flashback—Ex-Bush Official, Col. Wilkerson: “I am Willing to Testify” If Dick Cheney is Prosecuted for Torture
I was reminded yesterday of an interview on Democracy Now! with Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson (ret.) in 2011, in which he was asked about Vice President Dick Cheney’s recently released…
Sri Lanka before UN Human Rights Committee this week
This week, the UN Human Rights Committee will review Sri Lanka’s fifth periodic report on how it is implementing the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political…
Did the U.S. drone strike and secretly compensate Yemeni civilians?
New documentary evidence has emerged indicating that the families of those killed in a controversial December 2013 U.S. strike in Yemen received upwards of $1 million dollars in…
Inspectors General Information Access Complaints
Earlier this week, 47 Inspectors General (IGs) across the federal government signed a letter to congressional oversight committees complaining about impediments to access to information…
Road Map II: Legal Avenues to Prosecute a US Citizen for War Crimes—The Case of Gotabaya Rajapaksa
This is the second post arising out of a presentation I made at a congressional briefing earlier this month on issues of accountability in Sri Lanka. The analysis below is also…
Road Map I: What More Congress (and the Administration) Can Do to Promote Accountability in Sri Lanka
The Obama administration has taken the lead internationally to promote accountability in Sri Lanka. The principal focus is on war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during…
Sri Lanka’s Greatest War Criminal (Gotabaya) is a US Citizen: It’s Time to Hold Him Accountable
Monday, May 19th marks the five-year anniversary of the end of Sri Lanka’s civil war, which claimed the lives of 40,000 to 70,000 civilians in its “catastrophic”…