Iraq
270 Articles
Judge Chutkan’s Ruling on the Unidentified U.S. Citizen Detainee
Late Saturday night, Judge Tanya S. Chutkan ruled that the Department of Defense must allow the ACLU Foundation “immediate and unmonitored access” to the U.S. citizen…
U.S. “Confronting” Iran inside Syria: Spoiling for an Unlawful Fight?
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani meet during the BRICS/SCO Summits – Russia 2015 on July 09, 2015 in Ufa, Russia. (Photo by Alexey Filippov/Host…
The Problem With Western Suggestions of a “Shoot-to-Kill” Policy Against Foreign Fighters
An Iraqi policeman fires a machine gun at ISIS fighters in Mosul, Iraq. Image: Carl Court/Getty As ISIS’ self-proclaimed caliphate disintegrates in Iraq and Syria, Western governments…
How to Fix the US Military’s Broken Targeting System
The recent groundbreaking investigation by the New York Times into civilian casualties in Iraq uncovered a shocking truth for the many Americans who believe the United States is…
Thoughts on Erik Prince’s Proposal to Privatize Intelligence Gathering
This week we learned, via the Intercept, of Erik Prince’s proposal to provide the Trump Administration with a private intelligence outfit. According to the Intercept, “The…
Recap of Recent Pieces on Just Security (Oct. 28-Nov. 3)
Cybersecurity and Cyber Conflict Robert S. Taylor, Cyber, Sovereignty, and North Korea–And the Risk of Inaction Michelle Richardson and Mike Godwin, What the White House Needs…
The Importance of Professional Expertise in Gathering Evidence of Mass Atrocities
Justice for core international crimes committed in places like Syria is currently non-existent. Yet, should our frustration with this lack of accountability lead us to alter widely-accepted…
The Women and Children Returning Home from the “Caliphate”
A new report on the Islamic State’s foreign fighters, released today by the Soufan Group, highlights an often overlooked population: the women and children who joined or were…
Recap of Recent Pieces on Just Security (Oct. 14-20)
ISIS, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen Amarnath Amarasingam, Jade Parker, and Charlie Winter, ISIS’s Vegas Claim Tells Us More about the Group Than About the Attacker Nadim Houry, What…
Pluses and Minuses of the Imminence Standard in Counterterrorism Strikes
Last month, I wrote on the revisions that the Trump Administration reportedly plans to make to President Obama’s drone policy. The piece set off a robust conversation with…
On the Ground with FRONTLINE in Mosul and Yemen
As I watched “The Vietnam War,” the extraordinary documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick, over the last few weeks, I was struck by the level of access U.S. journalists had…
Three Quick Observations on the U.S. Citizen ISIL Detainee
1. Like Bobby Chesney, I fully expected that “John Doe”–the U.S. citizen who the military currently is detaining in Iraq–would be “en route to the…